


Case Five: Uma Nautica

by MelyndaR



Series: Auradon Social Services: Isle of the Lost Division [6]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), Disney - All Media Types, The Little Mermaid - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, M/M, Past Character Death, Past Rape/Non-con, Politics on the Isle of the Lost (Disney), United States of Auradon (Disney) Is Not Perfect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:20:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 26,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28514841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: Uma was back on the Lost Revenge and feeling shakier than she had in years. She held an invitation to attend Auradon Prep in her hand – an invitation she’d accepted – but it didn’t feel like she’d expected it to. Right now, she was feeling the same mixture of excitement and guilt that she’d felt last time she was outside the barrier, knowing her people, her crew, were still on the wrong side of it, and she hadn’t even left yet. She wouldn’t be leaving for another month, anyway, but already her mind swam with questions: where was she going besides to Auradon Prep, because that wasn’t really how things worked anymore, right? What would her absence look like for the people she left here?
Relationships: Ariel & Uma (Disney), Ben & Uma (Disney: Descendants), Eric & Uma (Disney), Gil/Harry Hook/Uma, Harry Hook/Uma, Uma & Uma's Crew (Disney)
Series: Auradon Social Services: Isle of the Lost Division [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1854097
Comments: 44
Kudos: 91





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone in interested, I have a playlist for this story, too:  
> What's My Name - China Anne McClain, Thomas Doherty, Dylan Playfair (of course)  
> Part Of Your World - Halsey  
> Confident - Demi Lovato  
> What About Us - P!nk  
> I Hate Love Songs - Kelsea Ballerini (because it's become my mission to find one of her songs for everyone of these stories)

Uma closed her eyes, taking a break from scanning the docks to tilt her head back to the constantly overcast skies. More than anything since returning to the Isle and her crew, she’d found she missed the sun.

 _This godforsaken isle didn’t even have access to something as universal as the_ sun.

A seagull squawked harshly from beside her, drawing her from her thoughts, and she opened her eyes to see him balanced on the ship’s edge beside her. Uma would never admit it out loud, but this was her favorite seagull, identifiable by his partial wing, which had once had a nibble taken out of it by one of Tik-Tok’s damnable offspring.

 _Sorry, Urdu,_ she thought, not about to be caught talking to the bird like a crazy person. The last thing she needed was someone thinking she was going soft. _I don’t have any scraps for you._

That was why she was standing here, looking for her returning crewmen, because she’d sent them out on a supply run.

Urdu squawked again, and Uma impatiently waved him away. He danced backwards on the ship’s edge, nipping warnings at her hands, and though she was never quite sure how he’d figured it out, he took flight and left her to her thoughts.

 _She felt sorry for him,_ she reflected – the offspring of some unfortunate birds who had been trapped coincidentally under the barrier at its creation. Urdu hadn’t asked to be born here anymore than she and the rest of the VKs had.

_Unlike his namesake, at least Urdu the seagull had figured out a way to survive on this actual trash pile._

Before she could be drawn too far down memory lane, one of her crewmen, Michael, called from the crow’s nest, “Crewman on the gangplank!”

Uma turned to see Cai racing up the gangplank, her pink and black hair billowing behind her as she called breathlessly, “Captain!”

Uma met the Hun as she stepped aboard, demanding, “What is it? Where are the others?” as the rest of her present crewmen gathered around.

Now that she was closer, Uma could see that Cai’s eyes were glittering with excitement, and the pirate cackled as she answered, “In the town square, robbing a bunch of mainland couriers blind. There’s nearly fifty of them, and some of the idiots brought their wallets!”

The monetary implications of that were huge around here, Uma wasn’t blind to that, but she was a little more concerned with why they were here at all. “What are they doing here?”

Cai shrugged. “They have a couple dozen scrolls, and Mal and Evie are with them, but I don’t know why. I left the others there and came to tell you what was going on. It sounded like they were getting ready to split up when I left.”

 _Couriers, scrolls – invitations out of here! It almost had to be. Or at least it was something important if it required that much of a delivery service._ “Michael, Clay,” Uma ordered. “Keep watch here. The rest of you, trail those couriers. We’ll meet back here once they leave.”

She led the charge off the Lost Revenge, and as her crew dispersed to find couriers, Uma followed a hunch and headed in the direction of the Three Drowned Fairies pub. Halfway there, she smiled to herself as she crossed paths with two couriers dressed in garish royal yellow. Sticking to the shadows, she took a chance and darted away from them, taking a shortcut so she reached the pub before they did.

The fae waiting the tables eyed her skeptically as she stepped in but said nothing as she obeyed the sign that said, “seat yourself and wait your turn,” and slid into a seat against the back wall. In less than two minutes, she was completely forgotten as the two couriers entered. Gasps echoed around the room as one of the couriers cleared his throat uncomfortably, asking the nearest faerie, “I was told I could find Blanche Legume here?”

The green-haired fae nodded, curiosity filling her eyes as she said, “Usually, yes, but she’s not here right now.”

“Where can we find her?”

The green-haired waitress shrugged uncomfortably, but a fae with fire-red hair and a literally bent nose stepped out of the kitchen, near where Uma was sitting, and said what the other had been unwilling to. “She’ll be wherever your pretty little Evie is, I’d venture.”

The two couriers bent their heads together for a few seconds, whispering something Uma couldn’t catch – _she wasn’t in the right spot for what was happening; this wasn’t what she’d expected to go down here_ – until they asked the redheaded cook, “Where can we find Lady Anastasia Tremaine?”

 _What?_ Uma wondered to herself. _What did they want with Anastasia? Evie would’ve gone to visit Dizzy, not any of Anastasia’s brood, which meant that they needed Drizella instead. Unless they were just stupid and confused about who belonged to who around here?_

In any case, the two couriers only had one scroll between the two of them, _and_ they were trying to touch base with Evie, which meant trailing them might just satisfy two of Uma’s curiosities at once. When they left the pub just as abruptly as they’d come, Uma was only a step behind them, and the poor things didn’t even notice.

Just for that, she slipped a hand into their pockets and took their wallets as her own as they walked.

 _Maybe they weren’t as stupid as she’d given them credit for,_ Uma had to admit when they made it to Anastasia’s tailoring shop. The lights were on in the apartment above the shop, and Uma could hear Evie talking to the many Tremaines that lived up there – _what in the world was making Anastasia sound so happy? Were her kids getting invitations to Auradon?_ – but the shop beneath was locked, and no one was answering the couriers knocks.

“Can I help you gentlemen?” asked a displeased voice, and Uma ducked around the corner of the next building when she recognized someone who might notice she was there – her half-sister, Andrea Tremaine.

“We’re looking for Blanche Legume,” said the same brave courier who’d been doing all the speaking.

“She’s not here,” Andrea informed them with a snort. “Has no reason to be.”

Uma watched the couriers look at each other, debating what to do next, and she almost laughed. Andrea was _almost_ as harmless as they came on the Isle, but these men had no way of knowing that, and they were clearly getting nervous. They were in a strange, dangerous place, with darkness approaching, and they apparently had no idea where to find their target so they could complete their task and, presumably, leave. Uma was starting to enjoy watching them squirm.

“We need to find her,” the courier finally informed Andrea.

“She’ll be at Three Drowned Fairies pub,” Andrea replied, giving them more information than Uma would have.

“We checked there already. She’s not there.”

“Then good luck,” Andrea scoffed. “If she’s not pinned to that place, you won’t find Blanche unless she wants to be found.”


	2. Chapter 2

Andrea walked away from the couriers, then, a pair of stained satin heels in one hand. As the couriers stood uselessly, debating what to do next, Uma wondered if Andrea intended to work the docks or the town square tonight. She decided it didn’t matter when the couriers looked around like they were going to start walking again, but then the morons plopped down on the steps of Anastasia’s shop.

_Waiting for Evie._

Lucky for them, Evie emerged from the shop a couple minutes later, a couple couriers of her own at her back. She squeaked in surprise when she opened the door to find two grown men sitting on the stoop, and the couriers behind her jumped in surprise, too.

Uma hoped for Evie’s sake that they weren’t here as her “protection,” but she was also willing to bet that was exactly what they were. _Oh well, maybe she could steal their wallets, too, before the night was over._

“What are you doing here?” Evie demanded of the couriers.

“We can’t find this Blanche Legume kid,” the courier announced.

Evie sighed as she stepped around them and onto the street. “You must have just missed her.”

“Do you know where we can find her?”

Evie nodded, but reached out a hand for the scroll. “Give the letter to me; I’ll give it to her. The four of you go back to the cars.”

“Miss Grimhilde, I don’t think—” one of them began to protest worriedly.

“Go,” Evie said again. “You’ll be fine.”

“Lady Mal wouldn’t like it if you were left alone.”

“What Mal doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Are you going to tell her that you lost track of me on the Isle?”

“But we haven’t lost track of you,” the man replied in confusion.

 _Were the poor idiots scared actually out of their minds, or were they always this dumb?_ Uma wondered as Evie replied evenly, “But you will if you try to follow me from here. Go back to the cars.” She sighed, requesting, “Give me ten minutes alone, then I’ll come join you, and we can leave.”

The four couriers were still uncomfortable, but one of them handed Evie the scroll, and they left. With the scroll in hand, Evie turned and ran in the opposite direction, and Uma followed her at a safe distance, giving up on stealing any more from the couriers in favor of getting information. The blueberry princess stopped behind Carlos’ House – a newly-erected safehouse for children who needed a place to crash overnight, like a sort of free hotel – and Uma was gratified to see Blanche emerge from the shadows with Grayson Legume in her arms.

 _He_ was why Uma had opted to start out at the Three Drowned Fairies in the first place, because given half a chance, Evie would do whatever she could to see him. It wasn’t hard to figure out why when Grayson immediately squealed with glee, leaning so far towards Evie that he almost toppled out of Blanche’s hold. “Mama!”

“That’s right, Gray,” Evie answered, her voice choked even as she smiled and pulled her son close, kissing him all over his thin little face. “Mama!” He laid over on her chest as she murmured, “You didn’t forget Mama…”

“Of course he didn’t,” Blanche said. “I wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Thank you. For everything, always.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Blanche said. “The kids help me as much as I help them. They’re the only reason I’m still alive.”

Evie frowned at Blanche, requesting, “Please don’t say that.”

Blanche shrugged. “Yeah, it’s harsh, but it’s true.”

“Blanche…” Evie began, handing Blanche the scroll.

Unable to read its contents in the dark, Blanche asked, “What’s this?”

“A request for one of the TDF kids to come to Auradon. Rosie. Um… King Eugene and Queen Rapunzel asked offered to take her in.”

“Oh! Oh, thank the gods,” Blanche breathed. “That’s _amazing.”_

“Blanche,” Evie said again.

“What?” Noticing Evie’s continued solemnity, Blanche asked, “What’s wrong?”

Evie hesitated, brushing the black curls out of Grayson’s face so that she didn’t have to look at Blanche as she explained, “The only reason you’re receiving that scroll is because our genetics systems couldn’t identify her parents. The biological parents of the other TDF kids are all getting similar letters tonight.”

“You’re taking all of them,” Blanche realized, suddenly sounding a little shocked.

 _“Almost_ all of them,” Evie replied, tightening her hold on Grayson until he squirmed.

“Not Grayson?” Blanche asked, sounding as baffled as Uma felt. _Why, out of all the VKs, would Evie want to leave Grayson here?_ “Why not Gray?”

Evie drew in a deep breath. “It’s complicated. Really complicated right now, but we’re working on it, I promise.”

“When?” Blanche asked suddenly. “Are you taking them now?”

Evie shook her head. “We’ll be back next week. We’re actually taking twenty-three kids in all next Saturday.”

“Evie, that’s amazing,” Blanche said again, laying a hand on Evie’s arm.

Evie nodded, suddenly peppering Grayson’s face with kisses again as she said, “Mama loves you, Gray, so, so much.” She handed Grayson back over to Blanche, unable to look at him as she reached into her purse and pulled out a fat baggie. “Yogurt drops,” she explained, pressing that into Blanche’s hand as well. “And, uh, there’s a bottle of baby aspirin in there, too, just… in case they ever need it. I, uh, I have to go before the couriers come looking for me. I—” Evie started to reach for Grayson again, but stopped herself, clenching her hands into fists at her sides as she turned and walked quickly away, saying, “I’m so sorry. So sorry.”

In the moment before Evie began to run back towards the town square, Uma heard the first sob bubble up from her throat, and she had to wonder what the hell was so “complicated” that it was keeping a mother from the son that she so clearly wanted with her.

Then she was struck by the reality of what Evie had said. Twenty-three kids exiting the Isle all at once could be _huge,_ in ways that were good for them, but quite possible bad for the Isle. It just depended on who those twenty-three kids were.


	3. Chapter 3

As night fell, Uma made her way back to the Lost Revenge, and as her crew trickled back in, too, they brought reports with them.

Scarlet Hart.

Ginny Gothel.

Anne Mim.

Blanche Legume.

The three Smee boys.

Diego De Vil.

Jace and Harry Badun.

Asma.

Nada.

Rashida.

Hermie Bing.

Yzla.

Freddie and Celia Facilier.

All those VKs had received invitations to go to Auradon, though apparently not to Auradon _Prep,_ the fancy boarding school. But it was mainland Auradon, and that was good enough.

 _It didn’t make_ sense _, though._ Uma was pacing in agitation across her private quarters – four steps, turn, four steps, turn – as she wondered what made the ILD’s prissy Mrs. Radcliffe, Evie, and King Ben choose the VKs they’d chosen. _Sure, it made sense to empty the TDF of babies and toddlers and cutting Harriet Hook’s crew in half was bad for her, in a sense, but great for her young crew. Scarlet Hart, Ginny Gothel, and Anne Mim, though?_ That _didn’t make sense when they were leaving little kids here to take those three._

And it got under her skin more than she was willing to admit that Freddie and Celia had been selected, _especially_ since Evie had mentioned genetic testing, which meant they’d gone through the trouble of actually running all those DNA tests the swarming Auradonian scientists had taken a couple months back.

 _So much for her having made an impression on King Ben. He’d chosen the wiliest of her sisters, though, so the joke was on him,_ she decided, just to make herself feel better as Harry and Gil crowded into their room for the night. Her boys stood on the bed to undress for the night, giving her the room to keep pacing as if she hadn’t even noticed them.

When they were dressed only in their boxers, Gil lay down on the twin bed first, and Harry wedged himself mostly on top of Gil between his boyfriend and the wall. “Uma,” Gil beckoned tiredly, reaching an arm out for her so that she had to either stop pacing or run into his arm in the cramped quarters.

She pushed his arm away with a scowl that the sleepy dope didn’t deserve, slapping her tricorn onto the bed’s footpost opposite Harry’s hat with a frustrated sigh.

As she took off her belt and dress, folding them to leave at the foot of her bed with the boys’ clothes, Harry reminded her soothingly, “It’s been a good day, beautiful. We got enough cash to be set for a couple months if we play it right.”

Still stewing, she tucked herself into the sliver of space Gil had left for her at the edge of the bed, letting him wrap his arm around her so that she wouldn’t fall off the edge as their bed creaked the same protest to their combined weight that it did every night. She knew Harry was right, knew that she _could’ve_ been satisfied with knowing they had a couple months’ prosperity ahead of them, _probably with enough to share with Harriet and Blanche, if it was needed – and wasn’t it always?_ But she wasn’t the type to be satisfied easily, and she didn’t like that she didn’t understand what King Ben and the others were doing when he’d been so easy for her to read right from the start.

“Why them?” she finally demanded into Gil’s chest, hating that, with these two, the words didn’t come out as much like a growl as she would’ve liked.

“Why who?” Harry asked carefully.

Uma sat up on one elbow, placing it carefully so that she didn’t ram Gil in the side. “I get the babies, and I even get Harriet’s crew, but _why_ would he just _ignore us_ in favor of the _hearts?”_

“The hearts?” Gil asked in confusion. “What hearts?”

“Scarlet and Ginny both got invitations to Auradon, and so did _Anne Mim_! She’s crazy!”

“She’s not crazy,” Harry protested with a wry smile. “Just drunk out of her mind most of the time.”

“Even better!” Uma snapped.

“I… don’t… think those letters were for those people,” Gil said carefully, and Uma could see the cogs rolling behind his eyes.

“What are you talking about, Gilly?” Harry demanded.

“Uma, you said the TDF is going, right? We all know we missed a lot of those letters going out, probably, because there wasn’t enough of us to track all the couriers, but Scarlet, Ginny, Anne… you can’t say anything, but they’re all moms. To some of my sister’s babies.”

 _Now that tracked as something that King Ben would do,_ Uma admitted to herself, and she felt herself calm down a little at the idea. She kissed Gil goodnight, then Harry, too, before she snuggled in closer to them and allowed her eyes to close. She wouldn’t be able to sleep well tonight, still too frustrated with the idea that her Facilier sisters got to go instead of members of _her crew_ , but it was a start.

* * *

The next afternoon, as Uma boarded the Lost Revenge after her shift at the fish and chips shop, she asked Harry, the first mate that she left in charge whenever she was elsewhere, “Report?”

He shook his head. “Nothing interesting’s happened, compared to last night. Everyone’s just still in a tizzy over it.”

She nodded, surveying the crew – some of them laying around, others cleaning – before she asked, “Where are Gil and Le Fou?”

Harry nodded across the port towards his sister’s smaller ship.

“Did she get the money?”

He nodded again. “I sent those two over to give it to her, she took it, then asked them to watch the littles so she could go talk to Blanche for a bit. Gil asked to go with her, so Le Fou’s watching the kids.”

“By himself?” she asked skeptically.

“They like him!” Harry objected.

Uma bit back a smile, calling, “Neva!”

“Yes, captain?” the blonde stood from where she’d been arm-wrestling Michael.

“Go to Harriet’s. Make sure the Stabbingtons haven’t eaten Le Fou and stay with them until Harriet gets back.”

“Yes, captain.”

Neva hurried down the gangplank, and Uma looked around again before she asked, “Clay? Ula and Ule?”

“I sent _them,”_ Harry smiled excitedly. “Out to get dinner. Now that we have a bit o’ money, we’re going to eat well tonight, my captain.”

Uma smiled back at him. _Yeah, they were._


	4. Chapter 4

Harriet, Gil informed Uma when he returned, had wanted to extend an invitation of her own to Blanche and Grayson. She’d offered to let the duo that would remain on the Isle move onto her ship once the other babies were gone.

Uma knew both Harriet and Blanche pretty well, she felt.

The three of them had almost-unintentionally came up with a sort of system to help other VKs reach adulthood. They started with Blanche and the TDF, if need be, and when it was time for them to come out into this vicious world and go to school, they’d move onto Harriet’s ship. She’d look after them, but if they became too difficult to handle, or too bored with being babied, once they passed muster (and were at least twelve, was Uma’s unspoken rule), she’d send them down the pier to Uma’s ship. They became a Lost Revenge crewmember, where they could stay if they followed the rules laid down by their new captain, and for the most part, the system had worked.

The help that the three groups offered one another was the part that went unspoken, like how they all made sure that all their kids had food as often as possible, and clothes and shoes. It wasn’t easy to live without the help, protection, and income of real adults, but for most of them it was preferable to staying with their parents, so they made it work.

And if Harriet was offering Blanche a place to stay, maybe that was part of their unspoken agreement coming dangerously close to being spoken aloud. Uma and Harriet, Gil and Harry, all knew that Blanche was alive because of “her” TDF kids. She’d lived at the pub since she was seven, if Uma remembered correctly, and had been prone to bouts of depression the whole time Uma had known her. Harriet was probably worried what Blanche would do without most of her kids, as was Gil, and that’s why they’d gone to see her, why Harriet had made the offer she had.

But Gil said that Blanche had turned the offer down, and Uma figured _that_ was because of the one other person who could draw Blanche out of her depression sometimes – Hadie. He made a home in the mines with his father, Hades, separate from where Blanche kept the babies, but near enough that he could help her out with them, and if Uma’s radar was correct, there was more between them than smelly diapers and giggling children.

The part of her that cared about the VKs that weren’t on her crew hoped that Grayson and Hadie would be enough for Blanche when the time came for her to let go of the other littles.

* * *

The day the twenty-three VKs were to be taken to the mainland, Uma left her last two half-sisters, Ursula’s other daughters, Ule and Ula, on the Lost Revenge and led the rest of her curious crew to the town square. It was a circus, just like they’d expected, and at least half her crew split away to do what they did best and dip their quick hands into some hopefully deep pockets.

Six limos were parking in the middle of the square, and Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos, Ben, and some guy in glasses got out of the second one. Uma edged closer to the well-to-dos, noting the way Glasses had his hand wrapped around Evie’s arm, angling himself like he thought he was going to be able to put up a fight if somebody attacked her. Uma really, really wanted to go up to them, screw with his head a little; he looked like it’d be easy right now, but they’d gotten smart after taking the first quartet of VKs from the Isle. There were real Auradonian guards forming a circle around the limos so that no one could get close unless they were supposed to.

She ignored them, though, as VKs began to be called forward to the limos over the town’s loudspeaker.

“Sammy Smee, Squeaky Smee, and Squirmy Smee!” the loudspeaker boomed.

Jay waved the trio of brothers over to the first limo with a sparkling smile, giving them a minute to hug their father tightly before he called jovially, “Get over here, you guys!”

They went to Jay and climbed into the car with tumultuous smiles that matched the look on Smee’s face. Though she didn’t miss the sadness that was a part of the boys going to Auradon, Uma was glad to see them go. More and more, CJ had been regaling her crew with stories of Smee’s “antics,” and Uma hadn’t missed the fact that the boys had moved onto Harriet’s ship full-time. If Smee’s mind was starting to wonder in a way that had more to do with an old age illness than his usual forgetfulness, Uma was glad his boys wouldn’t be around to see the real decline.

“Diego De Vil!”

Diego came running to the limo, gladly embracing his cousin before he crawled in after the Smees.

“Jace and Harry Badun!”

Those boys, too, came running for Carlos, reuniting happily with their old “ringleader” before they slipped into the car. Absently, Uma wondered what the absence of all three of them would mean for Albert Tremaine, who had started hanging around them after Carlos had left, but she figured it was too late to care about that now, right?

The first limo made a turn and headed off the Isle with six kids inside.

“Asma!”

A girl with a thick black braid elbowed her way through the crowd and approached Jay. He had once been her leader, in his own way, as the head of a gang of thieves when he wasn’t busy kowtowing to Mal, and Asma looked more than happy to be going with him now.

“Nada!”

Another raven-haired girl, another member of his old gang, went to Jay and bowed low to him, probably poking fun at his new status as _actual crown prince_ of Lone Keep, judging by the way he rolled his eyes and shoved her playfully in the arm before she got into the limo with Asma.

“Rashida!”

 _What was that?_ Uma started to tally as a third Agrabahn thief walked up to Jay and got into the limo with the other girls. _Three out of eight of his old gang members? That wasn’t fantastic odds to leave the other five with…_

What she didn’t admit, even to herself in the moment, was that she understood why he might try to prioritize helping them. It was what she would do, if she were in his position, and had that sort of authority.

“Hermie Bing!”

Hermie ran for the limo, bypassing even the hug that Mal offered her to dive into the vehicle alongside the thieves.

“Yzla!”

Yzla, at least, stopped long enough to give Mal a hug before she slid into the limo.

Then the name that echoed over the loudspeaker was one that Uma knew most people wouldn’t recognize: “Annabelle!”

Uma’s gaze flickered over the crowd, finding Blanche and Hadie, each of them with a wagon that they’d used to transport five toddlers apiece. Hadie scooped a blonde toddler into his arms and approached Mal with her. He ignored the faerie, though – his own twin sister, and Uma had to wonder how many people knew that in Auradon – and passed Annabelle into the limo and Rashida’s waiting arms before he retreated to Blanche with a hard set to his jaw, and a particular brightness to his blue eyes.

The second limo pulled away… and then it happened.

“Freddie and Celia Facilier!” the loudspeaker beckoned Uma’s charlatan half-sisters forward, to a new and better life, and Uma felt nauseous with jealousy and anger as she watched them climb into the third limo. Just behind her, close enough that no one would see what he was doing, Gil took her hand and squeezed it tightly.

_Because he at least understood what she was feeling._


	5. Chapter 5

One by one, babies and toddlers were handed into limos until only one limousine remained. As the second-to-last vehicle rolled away with the last baby inside, Mal tried again to catch Hadie’s eyes, even reaching out to him, and again he ignored her, returning to Blanche and their empty wagons.

 _Maybe she wasn’t the only one who was angry over being ignored by the all-powerful Core Four,_ Uma mused with a smirk. Her expression fell, though, as she watched Hadie wrap his arms around Blanche’s shoulders. Blanche – who did her dead level best to be either invisible or Legume levels of intimidatingly unapproachable in public – turned into Hadie’s embrace and rested her head on his shoulder.

_This wasn’t going to be good for her, was it? Fantastic for the babies in her care, but no good for Blanche._

Telling herself that Hadie and Gil could look after Blanche, that she couldn’t actually, personally protect everyone in this hellscape, Uma walked towards the duo anyway with Gil when he headed towards them.

“Sis?” he asked under his breath, checking on Blanche as covertly as he could in the middle of the crowd while he peered at her.

Blanche tugged the strings of her fur cap sharply, pulling it further down her forehead as she muttered just as crossly, “I’m fine.”

“Blanche,” Hadie muttered reprovingly, but Uma approved of Blanche’s “stiff upper lip” approach and shot both of the boys a quelling look so that they’d shut up and leave her alone.

Before they could say anything more, though, their collective attention was caught when the visitors from Auradon came over and Evie asked Blanche carefully, confusion knitting her brow, “Where’s the last of your kids?”

“I left him with Hades in the mines,” Blanche said tersely, not looking at anyone as she attempted to step even closer to Hadie. “I didn’t think it was a good idea for him to see all of his friends leave, and then he wouldn’t be able to go with them, and I—”

Disappointment flared obviously across most of the visitors faces – with a healthy dose of guilt in Evie’s eyes, besides – as she said quietly, “Oh. I guess that makes sense. I just… wanted to see him. And so did they.” She gestured vaguely back to the three boys surrounding her.

 _But why not Mal?_ Uma wondered, but in the moment she didn’t care enough to ask.

“You didn’t mention it,” Blanche said harshly. “And I’m not a mind-reader. Frankly, I’m not in the mood to care for him in the middle of all this, so I didn’t bring him. That’s the decision I get to make as the person who takes care of him, so, unless you decide to stick your nose in in a way that’s useful, leave me alone about it.”

Evie was blinking rapidly, at a loss of how to handle the onslaught, and it was Gil who asked again, “Blanche, are you okay?”

“Shut _up,_ Gil,” Blanche snarled, and from one moment to the next, she looked so much like her father with her cleft chin and dangerously flashing blue eyes that it almost caught even Uma off-guard.

She stalked away while dragging one of the wagons behind her, and Hadie didn’t even glance back at his sister before he grabbed the other wagon and followed his girlfriend.

“Okay,” Mal rolled her eyes with the sort of purposeful dismissiveness that set Uma’s teeth on edge as she said, “No more babies today. We can meet the others who are going to Auradon once we get back to Auradon; sorry, guys. In the meantime, E, I think you have something?”

At Mal’s excited little smirk, Evie said, “Oh, yeah,” and, to Uma’s surprise, pulled a scroll out of her boxy purse and handed it to the pirate captain.

* * *

Within the hour, Uma was back on the Lost Revenge and feeling shakier than she had in years. She held an invitation to attend Auradon Prep in her hand – an invitation she’d accepted – but it didn’t feel like she’d expected it to. Right now, she was feeling the same mixture of excitement and guilt that she’d felt last time she was outside the barrier, knowing her people, her crew, were still on the wrong side of it, and she hadn’t even left yet. She wouldn’t be leaving for another month, anyway, but already her mind swam with questions: _where was she going besides to Auradon Prep, because that wasn’t really how things worked anymore, right? What would her absence look like for the people she left here? She’d leave Harry in charge, of course, as she had last time, but—_

From up in the crow’s nest, Le Fou Deux called out, “Lady on the port!”

Uma’s gaze flickered over to the gangplank, expecting to see one of Scarlet’s little hearts approaching her ship. Instead, she saw Blanche Legume racing aboard with Harriet Hook. The usually quiet, mousy girl looked frantic, though less angry after her little outburst in the town square, and Uma moved to meet them as soon as they stepped aboard. Harry and Gil were right behind the girls, looking thrilled about something.

“What’s wrong?” she asked Blanche and Harriet before demanding of Harry, “And where are the others?”

Harry as good as brushed aside her question as he answered quickly, “Still gathering supplies. Town square’s still a bloody circus right now. But Uma—” He held out a scroll, identical to her invitation to Auradon Prep, while his eyes glittered with disbelief.

Uma froze, staring at it, as Gil made sure she understood. “They invited Harry too!”

“No way,” Harriet breathed, extending her own scroll for the pirates to see.

Uma stared for a second longer, the pieces slotting together in her mind – _one, Uma, two, Harry, three, Harriet_ – until she realized there was a missing piece. “Where’s the fourth one?” she asked, glancing around to see if anyone knew. “They bring students to Auradon Prep in quartets, right? Who’s the fourth VK?” She turned to Gil expectantly, hope flashing like light in a tin pan through her chest.


	6. Chapter 6

Gil shook his head, grief flashing across his expression almost before Uma could catch it. Blanche and Harry both reached for Gil, his sister putting a hand on his arm while Harry put his arm around their boyfriend’s broader shoulders.

Harriet glanced at them before she returned her gaze to Uma, answering, “One of my crewmembers saw Evie giving the fourth invitation to Dizzy Tremaine just before they left the square.” _Which meant there really wasn’t one for Gil._ Uma didn’t let on how her heart sank like a stone into her stomach at the idea as Harriet continued, “Anthony Tremaine slipped up to her with Dizzy, and Evie handed him some envelopes, too, before they left.”

“More invitations to Auradon?” Uma guessed immediately.

“No,” Harriet shook her head. “It didn’t sound like it. So far, with this Isle of the Lost Division thing, all the invitations have been very official, regal scrolls.”

 _Obnoxious,_ Uma thought with a roll of her eyes.

“What?” Harry guessed with a scoff. “So, somebody’s just getting letters from Auradon now, is that it?”

“If they’re not invitations to Auradon, they don’t matter,” Uma declared with an impatient wave of her hand.

“Then what does matter?” Gil asked quietly, looking at her with the same look a puppy gave a man holding food.

He would never say that he wanted her help, that he wanted her to find a way for him to go to Auradon, too, but of course he did. Why wouldn’t he? It was what she would want if they’re places were swapped, but she wouldn’t say so either. She wouldn’t want to put that pressure on him anymore than Gil would put that pressure verbally on her, but she understood anyway, and it made her heart hurt.

Yet another thing that she wouldn’t let on about as she answered, “What matters is figuring out what the hell is going to happen to the people who are left here until we can come back for them.”

Harriet met Uma’s eyes gravely – she’d already thought of that – as Harry’s eyes widened in horror, and Gil drew in a deep breath, his gaze darting out over the few ships in the wharf.

“I was talking to Blanche about that already, actually,” Harriet said. “Since I need her to, she’s agreed to brave taking on my crew – at least… what’s left of them, I mean.”

Gil smiled proudly at his sister, but there was an undercurrent of shared pain that passed between the two siblings, and Uma didn’t miss it before her own gaze flickered out towards mainland Auradon while she thought through her remaining options. _Did she really want to leave Gil in charge, to leave him with that burden? Maybe Fang, or Clay—_

As if he could read her mind, Gil suggested carefully, “I can look after things here, Uma. I promise, I’ll…” he paused to choose his words. “Treat everyone how they deserve to be treated.” _Good, bad, or otherwise, he meant to say, but he was nowhere near as good at that as she was._ “Besides,” he shrugged, still watching her entreatingly. “It’ll give me something to do until you come back for us, right?”

Uma stifled a sigh, because when he put it like that, how could she say no? “Yeah, Gilly,” she agreed with a small, fond smile. “That’s right.”

 _Gil would be okay with the rest of her crew,_ she promised herself. _He’d have to be. The lives of her crewmen might just depend on it._

* * *

The five teenagers had spent the rest of the day working out a plan for how they wanted to handle the transition of power between them before it was time for Uma, Harry, and Harriet to leave in August, but that night, Harry, in one of his fits, decided he was going to have absolutely none of it. This time, Uma was left to sit on the trio’s twin bed beside Gil, half in his lap so that they could give Harry the room to pace as he swore, “I’m not goin’! I’m not leavin’ Gilly here with the rest o’ the crew, to get caught up in gods knows what! They just took half Harriet’s crew, leavin’ them more susceptible t’ m’ da’s rages, an’ if ‘e decides to raid ‘er ship while _Blanche is in charge ‘o it_ , it’ll be up t’ CJ t’ defend the lot o’ ‘em that are left an’ she’ll up ‘n—”

When her boyfriend’s accent got so thick that she didn’t understand half of what he was saying – even though he wasn’t _wrong_ about what she could understand – Uma shouted, “ _Harry_!” He stopped, turning to look at her with a heaving chest and his eyes still blazing. “What are we supposed to do?” she snapped now that she had his attention. “ _Not go_?”

“No, o’ course yer goin’,” Harry said dismissively with a wave of his hook that, in the close quarters, very nearly nicked her cheek. “Yer gonna go, and punch their teeth down t’ their toes, ‘til they agree t’ le’ us all come, then yer comin’ back for us, for Gilly an’ me.”

“Of course she is,” Gil said gently. Those eyes of his that Uma hated how much she loved were wide and adoring as he unceremoniously reached forward and dragged Harry into his lap. There wasn’t much of a size difference between Uma’s boys, but Harry didn’t resist – at least until Gil added just as carefully, “And so are you.”

Harry elbowed backwards, aiming for Gil’s ribs as he said, “I just told ya—”

“And I’m telling you,” Gil’s expression flashed with the Legume temper that he so rarely displayed. “That I, and our crew, will be right here, right next to Blanche and Harriet’s kids, if they need anything. And she’ll still have Hadie and Hades, if she needs them for anything, I’m sure. The three groups will still look after each other, and we’ll make sure we’re enough for each other.” He smiled tightly at Harry as he propped his chin on the other boy’s shoulder. “Without you three around to be emotionally constipated, I’m sure my sister and I will do an even better job of cooperating than Uma, Harriet, and Blanche do.”

Uma snorted, but as she curled closer to Gil, she knew better than to object when he was right.

“And Uma can’t just go to Auradon alone without backup,” Gil continued. “I’ll have the three crew here; Uma and you will need each other in Auradon. You need to go – together.”

Harry cleared his throat, tilting his face to kiss Gil’s temple before he said, “I’ll miss ya’, though, Gilly.”

“I know,” Gil murmured, moving to wrap an arm around Uma. “I’ll miss you, too.”

Uma let herself burrow into Gil’s chest as she started to say, “We—I—”

But she couldn’t say it, not right now, not with as much as she was already feeling, and, as if to prove that he really was the most emotionally stable out of the trio, he whispered a rare, “I know you do. I love you both too.”


	7. Chapter 7

As it turned out, the trio’s conversation the night Uma and Harry received their invitations was the closest thing to a real goodbye that they allowed themselves. They didn’t really discuss it again, Uma just took Gil even more closely under her wing and taught him everything she could possibly think of about how she ran her crew, how she approached their surroundings on the Isle.

She was relieved – and sometimes even surprised – by how much Gil understood, or already knew. He was a quiet, handsome hunk of muscle, this boyfriend of hers, but, when given a chance, he had surprising moments of intelligence, too. Though Uma didn’t think she’d ever be okay with leaving her crew like this, when the moment came to say goodbye a few weeks later, she was less worried for the leadership of her crew than she’d expected to be.

The whole of her crew, and what remained of Harriet’s crew and the TDF, walked with them to the town square where Lady Tremaine, her daughter, Drizella, and Drizella’s three daughters were already waiting.

As she set down her bag to wait for the arrival of the limo, Harriet waved Dizzy over to her, leaning over to whisper in her ear and point covertly to where Anastasia Tremaine and Dizzy’s cousins were watching her prepare to leave. Seeing they’d been spotted, Anastasia and her brood waved wildly to Dizzy, wishing her a cheerful farewell, but everyone knew they wouldn’t come over with Lady Tremaine and Drizella there. Dizzy waved back as two limos pulled into the town square with a stream of curious villains already following them.

King Ben, Mal, and Carlos emerged from one limo as it parked, and Evie, Jay, and the glasses guy got out of the other.

“Goodbye, all!” Harry called to the gathered crowd, and to their crew specifically, with his most charming smile. He slugged CJ in the arm with a wink that made his little sister wrinkle her nose, and pulled Gil in for a quick hug before he threw his solitary bag into the trunk of a limo and climbed in.

 _At least their leaving wasn’t really being made into a big affair_ , Uma thought gratefully.

Underneath the mild fanfare Harry was causing, Uma watched as Evie moved away from the limos, running towards Anastasia Tremaine to hand her a handful of envelopes. _That was a little weird, especially to happen for a second time_ , Uma admitted, but she was far more concerned with saying her goodbyes to her people, “goodbyes” such as they were. They bumped knuckles with her, or waved, and a couple of the younger ones even hugged her, but when La Fou Deux held on to her just a few seconds longer, that was all it took for her to have to blink tears rapidly away before they dared spill from her eyes.

She threw her own knapsack into the trunk, giving herself a second to collect herself before she tackled the worst goodbye of all. She whirled to hug Gil, tight and quick, not allowing herself to think about it, but he took her hand, holding onto her as long as he could until her fingers slid out of his while she climbed into the second limo.

Uma drew in a deep breath, watching out the car window as Harriet was enveloped in a mass of her crewmembers, emerging after a minute to approach Uma’s crew. Uma was a little intrigued to see Harriet single out Cai for a particularly tight hug, and almost too late for it to matter, Uma admitted to herself that she’d wondered whether or not there had ever been something between them. Then Harriet hugged Blanche, deposited her bag in a trunk, and ducked into the limo with her brother.

Dizzy waited for Ben and Mal to get into the limo with Uma before she joined them.

They’d been inside the limo for about three seconds before Mal climbed back out and called impatiently, “Evie! Doug! Carlos! Come on, let’s go!”

The three who’d been beckoned paused in the middle of the square, clearly halfway to Blanche, Hadie, and Grayson, and turned to look back at Mal.

Uma ticked up a curious eyebrow as Jay loped over and guided Mal back into the limo. “If they want a second, you give them a second,” he ordered patiently.

“We are on a schedule for the appearance at school,” Ben pointed out, glancing out the window at his friends. “But we can afford one more minute.”

Dizzy fidgeted, asking quietly, “If Evie’s taking a second, could I—can I go say goodbye to Aunt Ana and my cousins?”

Bravery and fear were warring in her eyes behind her glasses, but Ben shrugged, saying innocently, “Sure, if we’ll already be here for a second.”

Jay understood why Dizzy was so hesitant, though, and he offered, “Come here, Dizzy.”

When she climbed back out of the limo to stand beside him, Jay scooped her up and propped her on one of his shoulders, calling, “Gil, c’m’ere!”

Grinning lopsidedly, Gil came over to support Dizzy from the other side, carrying her above the crowd like the spoiled little princess she might well be about to become as they walked with her right past her mom, sisters, and grandmother, to Anastasia and her kids.

Ignoring Drizella’s angry shriek just as much as Dizzy was, Uma wondered for a moment if she should go say “goodbye” to Andrea, but she decided it wasn’t worth it. _Not when she was going to be back here as soon as possible to bring them all to Auradon_ , she reminded herself firmly. She settled for watching Dizzy hug her aunt and cousins in what might’ve just been her first open act of rebellion against the women she’d lived with up until today.

Just as quickly, Evie let go of Glasses’ – Doug’s – hand and ran up to Blanche, pressing a little package of something into her hand as she ran a hand through Grayson’s dark curls, then ran back to Doug and Carlos. Doug said something to her – over the din of villains and through the limo’s window, Uma couldn’t hear what – but Evie shook her head, looking apologetic, and shoved Doug and Carlos towards the limo where Harry and Harriet were waiting.

Evie slid into the limo beside Uma, and within a few seconds, Dizzy joined them on Evie’s other side.

Jay stuck his head back into their limo to ask, “Evie, didn’t you want Doug to—”

Evie was already shaking her head, a warning flashing through her eyes that raised even more red flags in Uma’s mind. “We’re in a hurry; it doesn’t matter. I hate it here anyway, and we need to leave.”

“Okay,” Jay said mildly, finally shutting the limo door.

Uma took a deep breath as the limo turned back towards mainland Auradon, and Dizzy squealed giddily as she squeezed Evie’s hand.


	8. Chapter 8

Uma’s gaze snapped away from the water whizzing past outside the limo when King Ben nudged his foot against hers in the floorboard. “Hi,” he offered underneath Dizzy’s excited chattering to Evie.

 _Evie_ , Uma noticed, _wasn’t necessarily chattering back._

“Hey,” Uma replied with a smile that she purposefully kept both wide and careful.

“How are you?” Ben asked.

Uma shrugged, not sure how to answer such a generic question. There was so much she wanted to talk about and ask; she would rather gouge out her eye than endure small talk right now, but she had a feeling they wouldn’t appreciate her diving into what she wanted to talk about with little Dizzy in the car, and she could understand why, in a way.

“Were you able to leave things okay?” Mal asked cautiously.

“No, not exactly,” Uma allowed with an edge to her voice. “But that’s to be expected when you remove the leaders of two crews, and one of their seconds-in-command – only weeks after cutting one of those crews in half, by the way.”

“I thought that’s what you wanted,” Ben pointed out in confusion.

“I want VKs out, yes, but if you’re not taking us all at once, then you have to be strategic about it,” Uma pointed out. “For the safety of the people left behind.”

Evie shot them all warning looks as, on her other side, Dizzy fell silent, cluing into the other conversation nervously.

Uma let out a slow breath as Evie assured the younger girl, “It’s okay, Dizzy.”

“Yeah,” Uma agreed with more confidence than she felt. “I’m sure Gil’s got everything under control with the pirates.”

“And your Aunt Anastasia’s definitely doing better than she has been in a long time,” Evie added. “So, don’t worry about them. They’ll be fine, and they’re so happy for you, that you’re going to go to Auradon! The first thing I want to do is get you ice-cream, once you’re in Beast’s Castle for the night, okay?”

Dizzy nodded eagerly, sufficiently distracted, but Mal apparently couldn’t help herself, because she leaned forward to ask Uma in a whisper, “Do you really think _Gil_ has everything under control?”

Hyperaware of the king’s concerned expression, and of Evie starting to glare at them again, Uma muttered while looking between Ben and Mal, “We’ll talk later.”

* * *

When they pulled up to the school, Uma noticed Doug slip out the side of the other limo that was hidden from the many cameras turning onto them, and she kind of wished she could do the same thing. But, playing the “good” little VK, she got out of the limo behind Dizzy, who was beaming as she clutched Evie’s hand. Playing up to the crowd, Uma swept her tricorn from her head, waving it towards the playing marching band with a broad smile as Harry and Harriet came up behind her, Harry winding a protective arm around her waist as he took off his own tricorn and mimicked her.

 _“Uma and you will need each other in Auradon.”_ Gil’s words to Harry came back to her now, echoing more like a warning when she considered that she hadn’t expected them to apply already. _But they did_ , she ceded, still waving as she curled her free hand around Harry’s where his palm rested on her hip.

After a dull, but thankfully short speech from Fairy Godmother, the headmistress of the school, Uma and the rest of “her” quartet of VKs were released to go into the fancy – _downright palatial, obviously_ – school with Ben and the Core Four. Doug and two bright-eyed girls met them at the base of two staircases.

Evie stepped over to Doug’s side, wrapping her arms around his neck with a bright smile as she said, “This is giving me some pretty great flashbacks.”

Doug offered up a weak smile, but there was something stiff in his posture that Evie clearly didn’t like. She took a step away from him, asking, “Doug?”

“Let’s talk later, okay?” Doug said under his breath.

“Okay,” Evie answered, worry flashing through her eyes.

The girls with him shot Doug and Evie disconcerted looks, but the girl with darker eyes stepped forward, saying, “Welcome to Auradon Prep. I’m Jordan, daughter of the famed Genie of Agrabah and his wife, Delia, as well as an occasional assistant to the royal family of Lone Keep.”

“Hi,” Jay waved like an idiot just because he could. “That’s me.”

Uma and Harry rolled their eyes in sync, and Uma was amused to see Jordan do the same thing. “Today, I am also an interim assistant to you two.” She pointed between Harriet and Harry.

“Since there’s three different homes you’ll be going to for a few weeks before the school year actually starts,” the other girl rallied herself to say. “We decided we’d just… divide and conquer showing you around that way.”

She grinned as if she’d made a joke, and Dizzy said cheerfully, “Great!” Turning to Evie, she asked, “When do I get to try ice-cream?”

“Would you like ice-cream?” the brunette asked Dizzy.

“I don’t know; I haven’t tried it before, but it sure looks good!”

“It _definitely_ is,” she agreed. “I’m Jane, by the way. I’m going to show you around. But first, you’re going to meet the people you’ll be staying with before school, okay?”

Dizzy nodded, her smile dimming ever so slightly as she agreed, “Okay.”

“I tell you what,” Jane said with a conspiratorial look at Evie. “If you can show Dizzy to Chad’s dorm room – it’s the same as last year, if you know where that is – I’ll see if I can have ice-cream brought up to us and meet you there.”

“Sure,” Evie agreed with a cheerful smile, urging Dizzy up a flight of stairs as she said, “This way.”

When Jane turned to go, Carlos followed her, and Uma snorted when Jane reached back to take his hand in hers as they walked. “Is everybody in love around here?” she asked Jordan dryly.

Jordan shrugged. “Not me, but mostly everybody else is to some extent.”

“Well, why not you, love?” Harry asked her with his most flirtatious smile.

Uma rolled her eyes, as Jordan eyed the way Harry was still holding Uma’s hand. “You’re not my type, pirate,” she promised him dryly.

“Good,” Uma answered for him, giving Harry a quelling look.

“On that lovely note, if you could follow me to the library,” Jordan bid Harriet and Harry. She started walking away, clearly just expecting them to follow, and Uma decided that she liked the girl.


	9. Chapter 9

Jay went with Harry, Harriet, and Jordan, leaving Uma with Ben, Mal, and Doug.

“And you, Uma, are going to meet the family you’re staying with in their daughter, Ellie’s, dorm room,” Doug declared.

“And who would that family be?” Uma asked with upraised eyebrows.

“Oh!” Doug blinked. “I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head, as if to clear it as King Ben supplied, “You’ll be fostered by King Eric and Queen Ariel, the royal family of Triton’s Bay.”

Uma was proud of the fact that she only scoffed with shock and didn’t let her mouth drop open entirely. “I know who they are,” she assured the king. “But you’re _kidding_ , right? Those people are the reason my mom is on the Isle – the reason _I_ was born on the Isle!”

“They are also victims of your mother’s,” Ben pointed out quietly. “Just as you were.”

“I am not my mom’s _victim_ ,” Uma snarled.

“Oh, yeah, that’s right,” Ben nodded agreeably. “She didn’t care about you at all, did she? Unless she needed you for the night shift, was it? Sounds like extortion to me.”

Uma bristled from head to toe, suddenly very aware that it was three against one, and, yeah, she could probably take them, but that wasn’t why she was here, no matter how much she felt like trying out those odds right now. “No more extortion than the way you precious royals treat your sidekicks,” she shot back with a hard glare.

“Oh, look at that,” Mal butted in. “You do your homework. They’ll like that quality around here. You’ll be happy to know that we’re making progress regarding the sidekick situation. In the meantime, I would like to make progress towards Ellie’s room, alright?” Without giving anyone any options, Mal turned to Doug and ordered, “Let’s go.”

When Mal started walking without checking that anyone was following, Uma decided she liked it far less from her than she did from Jordan.

“What about Harry and Harriet?” Uma demanded, matching stride with Mal and Ben. “Where are they staying?”

“In Little London,” Mal supplied shortly.

Searching her mind for the geography lessons that hadn’t really been important to her outside of the few months she’d spent swimming around outside the barriers of the Isle, Uma remembered hearing of the coastal state of Triton’s Bay, but not of Little London, so she asked, “Where’s that?”

“Here in Auradon state,” Mal replied in the same clipped tone.

Uma stopped in the middle of the hallway, demanding, “I’m supposed to move to the _coast_ , while Harry stays here? No.”

“Only for a few weeks, then you’ll be reunited when school resumes,” Doug pointed out, turning to her with Ben and Mal.

“I don’t care,” Uma shot back. “It’s too far away from each other.” Taking a chance at being honest, she hedged, “We promised a friend we’d stay together.”

“And once school resumes, you can,” Ben repeated what his lacky had just said with a patience that only stoked Uma’s rage.

“You’re not hearing me. Harry’s going to throw a _fit_. This isn’t going to be good for him. The only reason he agreed to _come_ is because someone convinced him I needed him. It’s not going to be good if he can’t keep that promise to stay with me. Why would you guys split us up when you know th—”

“Uma,” Mal said suddenly.

“What?!” she shouted.

Warily, Mal asked, “Who did you guys make that promise to?”

“Why does it matter?” Uma asked with a shrug.

“Because it does. Because right here, right now, is going to be one of the very few times you’re ever going to get an opportunity to be honest about your relationships, and I know – believe me, I _know_ – you don’t like talking about your emotional entanglements, but you should if this is what I think it is.”

Uma was already shaking her head. “Don’t do _that._ Don’t try that right now. Get over yourself, okay.”

“Forget that part, then, Uma, but who was it? Please, say. It may matter more than you know.”

“It was Gil,” Uma declared. “Happy now?”

“Yes.” Mal drew in a deep breath. “Thank you.”

Uma bristled again, but when they started walking, she felt she had no choice but to follow. She didn’t particularly want to get lost, and get caught wandering around, but she did start considering jumping out a window and making her way back to the current she’d caught back into the Isle. _Except she needed to stay so that she could make sure the other VKs got a chance to come here, too._

Then she paid attention to something Mal had just said and asked suspiciously, “And just why won’t I get a chance to talk about my relationships?”

Mal glanced suspiciously at Doug, who gave her an unimpressed look in return, before Mal asked quietly, “It’s you, Harry, and Gil, right?”

Uma nodded.

“That’s not bad for you, in a way, given Harry’s little display outside when you got here, but I’d stick to that story, if you’re ever approached by curious people. It’s just you and Harry as far as anyone needs to know. Adding Gil to the mix would… put some people against you because you have two boyfriends, and definitely against Harry and Gil because they’re boys with boyfriends.”

“What level of stupid…” Uma muttered before she spoke a new thought at the same time as it crossed her mind. “Are you people _stupid_? What’s that mean for Harriet?!”

“Quiet down,” Doug urged her, and Uma turned to him, eyes wide with a rage that she felt so completely she wanted to punch him.

“Jordan is talking to Harriet,” Mal assured her. “We were aware of Harriet’s situation, and we’ve made Jordan aware of it, too.”

“But was _Harriet_ aware of the situation she’s walking into? Bad enough for Harry, and me, for that matter, but for Harriet, did she know?”

Their answering silence made Uma absolutely livid, and she almost started rethinking the whole idea of wanting to bring the other VKs here, except for the fact that Auradon at least had real beds and ripe fruit and enough edible food in general. “I hate you people,” she declared, marching on even though she had no idea where she was going.

“Well, hopefully you’ll like the people in here,” Mal said, grabbing the cuff of Uma’s jacket and pulling her in the opposite direction of the turn she’d been about to take.

“I doubt it,” Uma muttered as Doug knocked on the dorm room door.


	10. Chapter 10

“Come in,” bid a gentle voice.

Doug opened the door, gesturing for Uma to go in with a look that he was trying really hard to make threatening. It only made Uma smirk at him as she slid past him into the room. She wasn’t expecting him to shut the door behind her, but she decided she didn’t care as she surveyed the couple sitting in the _very_ teal-colored dorm room.

They stood, and Ariel’s wide blue eyes were filled with nerves as she offered, “Uma Nautica? I’m Queen Ariel Atlantica.”

“I know who you are,” Uma repeated what she’d said earlier, still sizing them up.

“Hi, Uma,” the man in the room stepped forward, offering her his hand as he said, “I’m Eric.”

Noting the differences in the way they’d introduced themselves – _she’d felt the need to give her full title, he hadn’t, and he was offering her a handshake and steady eye contact_ – Uma shook his hand, deciding it was best to be polite and keep her options open for now. She wasn’t surprised when the handshake was firm, but she was pleasantly surprised by the calluses she felt on his hand.

“You work?” she asked him with a curious tick of her eyebrows.

“In a way, all royals work,” he pointed out with smile. “But if you mean my hands, I’m also a sailor. Hazard of ruling a coastal state, I guess. I’ve long found the best way to understand the work that my people do is to do it myself, be right there in the thick of it beside them when I can.”

Grudgingly, Uma felt something that wasn’t… well, it wasn’t hateful, was all she would allow herself – start to worm its way into her mind regarding the man in front of her. “You have your own ship, then?”

“I have three that are technically mine, the rest are part of the navy, and belong to the state in that way.”

Uma challenged him with a smirk, “When I get my ship outside the Isle barrier, I’ll have to race you.”

He laughed, a gesture of surprise and not mockery, as he agreed, “I’d like that.”

* * *

 _So_ , Uma decided as she parted ways from Queen Ariel and King Eric twenty minutes later, _she didn’t_ hate _the king, but the queen was clearly uncomfortable with her, and because of that she had no idea why they’d agreed to take her in. Unless it was a political stunt of some sort, which she could probably deal with; they could accomplish whatever their goal was while she did the same thing regarding the VKs on the Isle._

_Yeah, taking her in for political reasons definitely made more sense._

She’d barely decided that before Doug almost ran into her as he turned down the hall. “Watch where you’re going!” Uma snapped.

“Sorry,” he said distractedly. “I, um, was thinking, and I wasn’t paying attention. But,” he visibly refocused himself as he said, “I came to find you, since Queen Ariel texted me that you were already done meeting them. Dare I ask what you thought of them?”

“He’s okay, she doesn’t like me, it went better than I expected,” Uma replied shortly before charging on to the question that was on her mind. “When can I see Ben? I need to talk to him.”

Doug sighed. “He expected that. I told him he was too busy, but he expected you would want to meet with him, so he asked me to set aside a couple _hours_ for you to talk to him, so I did. You have a meeting with him in ten minutes.”

Uma smiled at the irritation that passed through the servant’s eyes. “Perfect.”

“For now, I can show you where the library and your classrooms will be when you come back to Auradon Prep next month, so, follow me, please.”

As they walked, he bored her with facts about the castle’s history, the original uses of some of the rooms, and the Florians family history. She almost told him she couldn’t care less, just to see if he’d shut up, but she didn’t.

Still, he caught the look on her face and trailed off from what he had been saying to add, “…Though that’s probably not what you’re currently concerned with.”

“No, it isn’t,” Uma agreed.

“What are you interested in?” Doug asked, full of feigned politeness and poorly concealed skepticism.

“My people.”

Doug blinked in confusion. “I’m sorry?”

“The VKs that were brought over a few weeks ago, how are they doing?”

“Oh,” Doug relaxed a little, shooting her a surprised look as he said, “As far as we’ve all heard, they’re doing fine. They’re doing well, even _good_.” He smirked at her, offering, “That was supposed to be a little joke.”

“I know; it just wasn’t funny.” And it was a joke that Uma had a feeling was going to get a little old around here.

Doug cleared his throat awkwardly, continuing, “Three of the babies from the TDF even stayed with families here in Auradon, and Carlos’ cousin, Diego, lives just down the street from him now in Little London. That’s been good for them, I think.”

“Little London – that’s where Harry and Harriet are going, too?”

Doug nodded. “With the Darling family.”

“Their last name is _Darling_?” Uma asked with a snort.

Doug smiled crookedly, like he understood how it was weird, but was too kind to laugh. _Boring goody two shoes._ “The mother, Wendy, _her_ last name is Darling, because she didn’t change her name when she married, so the surname of their children, Jane and Danny, is also Darling.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Uma declared.

He didn’t disagree, only dropped the subject when they got to the open door to the library. “Library closes at eleven; don’t let Fairy Godmother catch you here after that time. Like she mentioned earlier, she has a little thing about curfews.”

“Oh, she won’t have a problem with catching me at the library,” Uma assured him. Then it occurred to her. _Library._ Though she couldn’t see them, Harry and Harriet were supposed to be somewhere in there with the _Darlings._ “Can I go look around in here, though?”

She took a few steps in before he could say anything, but what he did say stopped her: “You don’t want to miss your meeting with Ben, do you?”

Uma sighed laboriously, turning back to Doug. “Is it that time already?”

“By the time we make it to his office it will be, yes.”

“Alright.” _She’d catch up with Harriet and Harry later before they left_ , she promised herself. “Let’s go, then.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still on the proverbial fence about how I feel about these next couple chapters - I rewrote this scene four or five times, between trying to get it right and my laptop losing my progress in the document - but here you go! Hopefully you guys don't mind this as much as I do.

When they arrived at Ben’s office, Doug knocked on the door, and Ben called out, “Yes?”

Doug stuck his head into the room. “It’s Uma and I.”

“Ah, good. She’s free to come in, and you’re good to go home.”

“Home?” Doug repeated in confusion. “I thought I was showing her around for the rest of the afternoon?”

“I don’t expect this meeting to be brief,” Ben explained. “And I’d hate to waste your time, especially when, frankly,” his voice pitched lower in a faulty bid at confidentiality. “Back on the Isle, it looked like something unpleasant happened between you and Evie, and her and Carlos. Leave Dizzy with Jane and her aunt and uncle and take some time to talk to Evie on the drive back to Charmington.”

Doug sighed heavily. “I know what happened, and I know how to fix it; Evie just keeps chickening out of something, but we’re working on it.”

“Well, go take the rest of the day off to work on it some more, and if I can be of further assistance, let me know.”

His tone sounded frustrated even though Uma couldn’t see his face as Doug muttered, “Just work on the damn Legume ban, will you?”

_The what?! Surely that wasn’t what it sounded like it was… Although it would make sense as to why Grayson was the only TDF kid left on the Isle… But what would it mean for Gil, for Blanche?_

“Doug, is there something more I need to know about this ban? About the Legumes? Because you and Evie and Carlos all keep bringing it up, and if there are connections that I need to know about—”

“Just talk your dad around, okay?” Doug requested quietly, before he pulled his head back out of the office, informing Uma blandly, “He’ll see you now.”

Doug walked away, looking like he had a rod up his spine, as Uma slipped into Ben’s office.

“Please, sit,” Ben bade her, standing as he pointed to a chair on the other side of his desk. “I thought you might want an update on the VKs who were recently brought over to mainland Auradon.”

“Doug told me that the ones who were brought over are doing fine, is that right?” Uma asked, not sitting until Ben nodded.

“They are,” he assured her, turning his laptop to her as he asked, “Would you like to see some of the letters and updates their new families have sent into the ILD?”

“Maybe later,” Uma waved away his offer, sitting in the chair as she asked, “What are your plans to bring over more VKs?”

Ben nodded. “Straight onto that, then.”

He launched into an explanation of how the ILD did its work, taking into consideration the abuse VKs had been through and doled out, the crimes they’d committed, the backgrounds and abilities of the people willing to take them in, etc. It was a more detailed matching-up process than Uma had been willing to give them credit for, but that also meant that it wasn’t a particularly fast process, and she didn’t like that fact.

Once she thought she understood how it worked, she asked bluntly, “What about Gil?”

“Gil?” Ben repeated carefully. “Gil Legume? What about him?”

“Harry and I are here, but Gil isn’t, and I want to know why, because we all know that you know that he’s… important to Harry and I.”

Ben leaned back in his chair, offering, “The curriculum of Auradon Prep is… advanced, and we’ve chosen the VKs that we allow into the school itself very carefully. We were afraid Gil wouldn’t be up to that particular task academically.”

That almost sounded like a rehearsed answer to Uma, and she smelled a rat as she asked, “Why wasn’t he brought over with the twenty-three instead, then?”

“Because we don’t have a home that’s a good fit for him yet.”

_He was keeping eye contact far too steadily, something just barely ticking near his jaw – lying to her._

Uma stared at him for a beat, starting to lose her patience as she asked suspiciously, “What’s a Legume ban?”

Panic washed over his face for the briefest second, but King Ben drew in a deep breath, folding his hands together on his desk as he began, quiet and grave, “The Legume ban is a… condition my father placed on allowing any VKs to come over at all, back before even Mal and the other three came here: I could bring over practically anyone I wanted, but never anyone related to Gaston.”

_What the hell…?_

“In order to… keep the peace with my parents during an already tumultuous time around my coronation, I agreed to that ban because it…” self-loathing rose in his eyes as he admitted, shame-faced, “It made things easier in the moment, and I was naïve as to what it would mean later – what it means _now_. And it just,” he shrugged, shaking his head at himself. “Made sense for my family.”

“Oh, I bet it did,” Uma muttered dangerously.

“Uma, I would be thrilled to bring him here, b—”

“Then do it! Be king, change the ban, and bring him over!” she said irritation tipping towards anger in the face of such hypocritical stupidity.

“I can’t!”

“You’re _king_!”

“Yes,” Ben drew in a calming breath as he explained, “But this ban is a bigger deal for my parents than it sounds like, and I _don’t_ want to hurt them.”

“So, you’re making the decision to ban innocent VKs? To hurt _them_ by leaving them on the Isle.”

Ben winced. “I am trying every way I know how to keep people from getting hurt.”

“It’s a little too late for that, don’t you think?” Uma asked, on the edge of saying some things she knew she would regret, just so she wasn’t the only one in the room with an encroaching sense of helplessness.

Ben’s eyes snapped onto her face, sharp and suspicious, for a second before he repeated, “If I could bring Gil over here, Uma, I would, but I _can’t_ , not yet. This isn’t just about me, in this case, on a very real political level.”


	12. Chapter 12

Uma narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you talking about?”

“That’s what I was trying to tell you.” When he gave her a mildly reproving look, Uma sat back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest as she bit her tongue and waited for his explanation. “Until I’m twenty-one, I’m required to have the same council members that my dad did, unless _they_ choose to leave their position, as a sort of stop-gap to make sure things don’t change too quickly as we transition from my dad’s reign to mine.”

“That’s stupid!”

“Yes and no,” Ben allowed. “It’s useful in a way because, in a sense, I’m still supposed to be in the end of my training for kingship – very real on-the-job training at this point – but it also means that I am constantly surrounded by councils and councilors and votes and vetoes, advisors and representatives, all of it. And _everything_ I try to do, to enact, is going to go slowly, especially right now, until I’m twenty-one, because it all needs put to some sort of vote.”

“Including something as small as this ‘Legume ban?’” Even just saying it put a bitter taste in Uma’s mouth.

Ben winced again, his lips thinning as he revealed, “My dad knows this political system inside and out; he helped create it, and he knows how to use it to his advantage, too.”

“Meaning?”

“Unbeknownst to me, in the final days before my coronation, he gathered the necessary council of states to pass the Legume ban as an actual… essentially, a law. He passed it in such a way that the ILD legally _has_ to take it into consideration unless they’re willing to break the law, and the law can’t be changed unless the same council of states that enacted it redacts it, and _that’s_ not likely to happen until I can replace certain councilmembers.”

“In _four years_?” Uma snarled.

“At least,” Ben murmured, nodding gravely.

To his credit, his eyes and expression _were_ troubled, but Uma didn’t really care. This was the man – _the boy, apparently if he wouldn’t stand up to his father… his predecessor_ – who had the power to change her boyfriend’s life – every VK’s life – for the better, and he was just… deciding not to do it?

She practically felt the moment she allowed herself to snap, deciding, _if that’s what it’s going to take to get through to him._

“Who does King Adam think he’s protecting?” Uma demanded. “Gil’s one of the sweetest guys on that whole trash heap, his sister is a full-time caregiver to a bunch of _toddlers_ , and Grayson is literally _two years old_! Sure, the twins are horrible, but I’m not talking about them! I’m talking about my—” Something far more like grief than anger stabbed Uma in the chest, and her voice almost cracked as she stood, rallying the rage she felt so she wouldn’t cry. “My family.” She gestured sharply to Ben, snapping in her fury, “Your family!”

Ben glanced to the door before looking back to Uma, his eyes sharp and jaw clenched as he took in her heaving chest and embarrassingly wet eyes. “ _What_?”

“Oh, that’s right,” Uma smirked, working to cool her emotions as she appreciated how easy he was to rattle. _She had him now_. “Everybody in the Isle knows what Gaston did. You think an egomaniac like that isn’t going to boast of his _conquests_? And it’s not hard to guess what that makes _you_ , either. So, _how dare you_ sit here behind your kingly desk and tell me you _wish Legumes could be here_ but it’s _just not possible._ That’s _utter_ bullshit, and everyone knows it.”

The shrewd collectedness in Ben’s eyes had turned to fear, but now his gaze filled with a rage that matched what Uma felt as he stood and ordered quietly, “Get out.”

But his voice was shaking, and she knew he wouldn’t call for a guard, not when there was a chance of that guard overhearing _this_ , so she pushed, “Who’s going to go back to the Isle, Ben, and tell them – Gil, Blanche, the twins, Grayson? You have, what, _seven_ siblings, and you’re… you’re just not going to acknowledge a damn one of them because why? Because it’s _easier for your family?_ That’s ironic, isn’t it?”

He rounded the desk, eyes fiery as he stepped up to her, and she tensed for a fight, fully expecting him to try physically removing her himself. “Get _out_.”

Pieces clicked together in Uma’s mind as he crowded into her space, backing her towards the door in a move that was so unlike him that she was as amused as she was annoyed. She smiled serenely up at him as her back hit the door, advising, “And one more thing. If you really wanna know why your guy, Doug, keeps bringing up the ban, ask him and Evie about Grayson. I’m sure that’ll make you feel all-powerful and back in control.”

He reached around her, turning the doorhandle, and pulling the door open in a move that only forced her to crowd into his chest. “Aw, you need a hug?” she asked with a smile, so angry that she was only amused at how rattled he was, how he was so clearly not thinking straight.

Aware now that they were a step away from the hallway, Ben said levelly, “Have a good rest of your day, Uma. I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it down to lunch but have a good trip to Triton’s Bay.”

 _She could try to stay, try to fight him, try to push back some more,_ Uma reflected for a moment. _But she wouldn’t. It would serve her best to try and be decent for a minute around here at least, to create more proof for the idea of… “reformable” VKs. Notwithstanding the fact that she would now be counting on the fact that he’d never repeat this conversation to anyone._

Uma ducked under his arm and out the door, waving over her shoulder as she left, saying cheerfully, “I’ll see you when the school year starts!”

Ben had slammed the door behind her before the words even left her mouth, and she snorted, already stewing as she walked away.

Apparently, she had a couple hours to kill before lunch.


	13. Chapter 13

Her two-hour self-guided tour of Auradon Prep had given Uma far too much time to calm down, and then to think more clearly.

She had botched things with Ben, almost as soon as she got here, and her reasoning – which had seemed solid in the rage-filled moment – looked flimsy at best now. No matter that there was some truth to what she had said, there was no way it had been a good idea to bring up his closest-held secret right away. He was going to hate her, and if that hurt the other VKs’ chances of coming here, she was never going to forgive herself.

Because Ben didn’t come to the lunch his parents were hosting before the VKs and their foster families left, she didn’t have another chance to talk to him, to try and make it right, or – maybe – apologize for her sharp temper, if that’s what it was going to take. Because of where she was sitting at the long, formal dining table – between King Eric and some bespectacled twig who introduced himself as John Darling – she wasn’t even able to talk to Harry or Harriet, and she really would’ve liked to. She wanted to check on them before she left, but she also would’ve liked some advice – mostly from Harriet, honestly – on how to handle the explosive conversation with Ben.

But, per the usual, Uma got nothing that she wanted.

Under different circumstances, she might not have minded talking to King Eric, and there was something interesting about the knowing spark of mischief in the otherwise restrained John Darling’s eyes, but as it was, Uma’s first meal in Auradon seemed like the longest thing she’d ever been forced to sit through. She was able to catch a few glimpses of Harry and Harriet, sitting at the other end of the table with their new foster family – Harry kept trying to catch her eye as often as she did his, but Harriet was sitting comfortably between two redheaded kids, chatting with them and the trio of adults seated across from them. Playing the part they all needed her to, just like Mal had known she would be able to.

It made Uma even more worried about how thoroughly she’d managed to screw up her own part in this so immediately, so that she was in an outright terrible mood when the time came for her to say “goodbye” to Harry, Harriet, and Dizzy, and go to her new “home” in Triton’s Bay with the Atlanticas.

Dizzy left first, getting into a limousine with King Henri, Queen Ella, and Chad Charmington with nothing more for the other three VKs than a little wave in Harriet’s direction. _Always so good with the kids, Harriet…_

Harry stepped closer to Uma in the second that Harriet was distracted with Dizzy, pulling her close despite her rigid stance as he murmured into her ear, “You okay?”

Uma shook her head before she pressed her forehead against the cool leather of his vest, taking a deep breath of the familiar scent of the wharf, the sea, from his clothes. “I messed up. I messed up big time, already.”

Harry’s brow creased in concern as he put just enough space between them to look down at her, but before he could say anything, Harriet came over to them, muttering, “Harry, we gotta go. You guys will see each other next month, okay?”

Harry and Uma both nodded, and Harry leaned in to kiss Uma’s temple, whispering, “You’ll figure it out, love, just like you always do.”

Harriet gently pulled Harry away before Uma could remind him that she’d always managed to figure it out while her boys were at her side.

She watched the Darlings’ van drive away with her boyfriend in the backseat before she turned her gaze away from the road, back to Beast’s Castle. Ben was watching, brooding, from his second-story office window, but when he caught her watching him, he flinched, stepping out of her line of sight as well, and something hard and worried curled even tighter in Uma’s gut.

King Eric and Queen Ariel had given her plenty of space to say “goodbye” to her friends, but now they approached her, Queen Ariel asking in her soft way, “Are you ready to go?”

Pretty sure it wouldn’t do her any good to try and stay to talk to anyone, and _really_ sure that she didn’t want to do anymore damage in her relationships with the people who could help the VKs, she nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

* * *

 _That had been a lie of sorts_ , she realized, stepping through the exit of the Atlanticas private jet and looking out over their pristine, white castle. “This place is huge,” she muttered, not realizing she’d said it aloud until Queen Ariel turned back to look at her over her shoulder.

“It is,” she agreed with the same tumultuous smile she’d been giving Uma all day. “But you’ll get used to it, after the first few times of getting lost inside. In my experience, anyway.”

The queen had misunderstood what Uma had meant though – _of course she had._ It wasn’t that Uma was worried about getting lost in the place – _if she could teach herself how to chart the seas, she could learn the layout of a castle_ – it was that it was so big that it was at odds with everything Uma had ever known. The Isle wasn’t large, and the people on it certainly couldn’t have afforded to live in a castle like this, and it was so much of a one-eighty – so much opulence in a country that was also okay with such suffering – that it almost made Uma sick to her stomach in yet another way as she stepped away from the jet.

It definitely disgusted her when she thought about it too much – so she was disgusted enough _before_ King Eric said with a broad smile, “Uma, I’d like to introduce you to mine and Ariel’s eldest daughter, Princess Melody.”


	14. Chapter 14

Uma turned from looking at the Atlanticas castle to look at – _surprise, surprise_ – a young lady with a pearly-white smile, an equally shiny tiara, and a swath of coral tulle and silk composing her dress.

“Hi!” the princess greeted her, sticking out her hand for Uma to shake. “I’m Princess Melody. You must be Uma Nautica.”

“That’s me,” Uma agreed, shaking the young woman’s hand with a thin smile that was only a fraction as bright as Melody’s.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you! I’ve heard so much about you. Well,” she shrugged with a hint of awkwardness at the edges of her smile as she finally dropped Uma’s hand. “We all have, I guess. But, uh,” Melody fixed her smile back into it’s previous blinding sunniness, pushing past the awkwardness that she’d momentarily brought upon herself. “I’m glad to get the opportunity to get to know you for myself, is what I mean to say.”

Uma let her smile freeze in place, keeping her skepticism from flashing through her eyes as she wondered just how true that actually was. If she was the Atlanticas, she wouldn’t want to get to know her, not after Ursula, or Uma’s own more recent stunt, never mind her Aunt Morgana’s stab at taking power and the way that it had, according to the stories, effectively ruined Melody’s childhood years and the start of her relationships with Queen Ariel’s family.

 _But, then again_ , Uma allowed, giving Princess Melody another onceover, _this princess was probably just another one who was too sunny and… well, too good for her own good._ Somebody like her just might be willing to give her nemesis’ family a second chance.

 _That didn’t mean she had to like her for it_ , Uma decided. Already she could tell that, much like Evie – ole Princess Blueberry – this girl was going to get on her nerves in a really big way, and she wasn’t looking forward to sharing a home with her, even if it was a castle as big as this one. She was grateful, then, to tune back into the conversation as Queen Ariel was explaining that Princess Melody didn’t actually live with them. She lived in a starter castle of her own in the next county over, having taken charge of that county so that she could get practical leadership experience before she took over the whole state when Eric and Ariel retired.

 _At least there was that to ease her nausea over being thrust into this ever-so-perfect little family,_ Uma thought, swallowing a sigh as she followed her foster family into their ever-so-perfect castle. _At least she wouldn’t be exposed to_ every _one of them every day until she left again for Auradon Prep._

They’d only been on the jet for a few hours, but as they stepped into the shiny foyer, Queen Ariel asked, “Are you hungry, Uma? Or would you prefer to see your room and get settled in?”

She’d meant it as a perfectly normal question, and Uma knew it, but something twisted uncomfortably in her gut at the reminder of how easy these people had it – how easily they had access to anything they could ever _want_ and didn’t have to think twice about what they needed. And now she was a part of this… while, if the powers that be had their way, Gil never would be.

“I’d like to see my room,” she decided tonelessly, when what she meant was that she would like for these people to stash her somewhere and leave her alone until she could get back to Auradon state.

“Of course.” Queen Ariel smiled encouragingly. “I’ll show you myself. Right this way.”

She waved Uma towards a spiral staircase in the middle of the foyer, and Uma snorted before she could catch herself as she realized aloud, “You have an _elevator_ – in your _house_!” Because they did; there was an elevator shaft rising right through the middle of the ceiling with the spiral staircase wrapped around it.

“We do,” Queen Ariel confirmed with a graceful nod and an amused smile. “Would you prefer to take it rather than the stairs?”

Uma shrugged. “Sure.” _Because why_ wouldn’t _she… but also, how extra could these people_ be _?_

So, they took the elevator up to the second floor. When the elevator doors opened, Uma was prepared to step out, only to take a surprised step backwards when she almost ran into someone sitting in the hallway. “Oh!”

The first thing she noticed was the wheelchair; the second thing she noticed was the bespectacled blonde sitting in it. “Oh, I’m sorry.” The girl’s eyes slid from Uma to Queen Ariel as she asked, “I, uh, guess I missed the welcome committee, huh?”

“There wasn’t much of one to speak of,” Ariel said with a shrug, stepping off the elevator with Uma as the girl wheeled backwards so that they could join her in the hall. “Your father already went off to check on things, Melody met us at the airstrip, and has, I think, gone again for the afternoon. I was going to show Uma her room, give her a tour, and then go catch up on my own reports.”

“I can show you around,” the blonde offered, looking to Uma. “You can go get to your work, Mom. We’ll be good here.”

Queen Ariel arched an eyebrow, only half-teasing, Uma had a feeling, as she demanded of the two girls with a smirk, “Do you promise?”

The blonde smirked back, replying flippantly, “Nope.”

Queen Ariel chuckled at the girl, but her smile slid just a little as she glanced at Uma, worry flashing through her eyes before she headed to the stairs and went back downstairs.

The blonde beside Uma pretended not to have noticed the queen’s concern as she turned her chair fully towards Uma, offering once they were alone, “Hi, I’m Ellie.” She waved a dismissive hand, elaborating, “Princess Ellie Atlantica of Triton’s Bay. The spare to Princess Melody’s heir, in case you hadn’t figured that out,” her sarcastic smile faltered as she allowed, “But I’m sure you had. I’m,” she tapped the armrest of her wheelchair dryly, “Kind of infamous around here.”

“I hadn’t, actually,” Uma informed her grudgingly.

“Hm,” Princess Ellie said, giving Uma a second glance as she muttered, “How refreshing.”

Except it wasn’t from where Uma was standing. She’d been so preoccupied with thoughts of the Isle and the kids that were still on it that she hadn’t been paying enough attention to her surroundings here, and here – especially here, in Triton’s Bay – with no one at her back, that could be dangerous.


	15. Chapter 15

“Anyway, on to your room,” Ellie declared, turning her chair away from Uma as she said, “It’s this way. We’re going to be neighbors now, in a way.”

“Is that so?” Uma asked distractedly, looking at all the pompous paintings that lined the hallway as she followed Ellie away from the elevator and stairwell.

“M-hm. I convinced my parents to let me move into the room across from yours when they started remodeling your room.”

“Why?” Uma questioned. Smirking and only half teasing, she asked, “Hadn’t they let you away from Nanny and out of the nursery yet?”

Ellie leaned forward to open a bedroom door, gesturing Uma into it before she answered with a dry tone and equally coy look in her eyes, “Joke’s on you, they hadn’t let me move out of the nursery, actually.”

Uma stopped her casual surveyance of her bedroom – _was it just her, or was the space decorated like a captain’s quarters?_ – to shoot Ellie an incredulous look. “You’re kidding!”

Ellie shook her head wryly. “My parents are notoriously overprotective of their daughters. My mom especially likes to… overreact, to over-respond. Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents, but because of my health problems they wanted me as near to them as possible, so,” she shrugged. “I stayed in the room that is technically the nursery until I could talk sense into them a few weeks ago.”

“Well,” Uma rolled her eyes at the idea. “Congrats on the new room, I guess.”

Ellie nodded at Uma with all her mother’s grace in the gesture and all her father’s wit in her eyes. “The same to you.”

Uma sat down on the edge of the bed – _a bed all for herself, weird thought_ – letting her hands sink down into the plush, seafoam green duvet as she asked bluntly, “If you’re so infamous, I guess you won’t mind if I ask what happened to you to put you in that thing?”

Uma gestured to the wheelchair as Ellie blinked at her in surprise. “You really don’t know what happened?”

 _How self-absorbed could these princesses get? Did she really just expect that they’d, what, studied her life in school on the Isle or something?_ Uma wondered dryly, shaking her head. “Nobody really cared to keep us up-to-date on current events on the Isle, and I was usually too disgusted to watch the news that did come through the static on the televisions.”

“It is old news, I guess,” Princess Ellie allowed. “From my first birthday. My parents took me down to the water, like they do at every family event so that we can all celebrate with both sides of our family. That time, for the first time, my mom let one of my aunts carry me into the water. Babies can swim reflexively; do you know that?”

Uma nodded, a strange sense of foreboding pricking at the back of her mind as she muttered, “I do.”

“Well, my family figured out later, it turns out that was the first time I’d ever been fully submerged in the water. My aunt dove under the water with me, and, like my mom, cousins, and Melody can, I transformed into a mermaid, but something went wrong when I got back out of the water. Obviously, I’m too young to remember it, but Mom, Fairy Godmother, the doctors, they all say that the restricted version of magic that we use messed up the nerves in my feet somehow, and now my legs just… don’t work. I never learned to walk, actually. They don’t know what went wrong with the magic, restricted as it is, so they aren’t sure how to fix it.”

“Huh,” Uma said faintly, her thoughts flying from the girl in front of her to another toddler who’s chances at life had been shattered because of botched magic.

“For the record,” Ellie said after a beat. “The only reason I was surprised you didn’t know is because around the time the accident happened was a really… tension-filled year around a couple subjects. The use of magic in Auradon was one of them, in part because of my accident, and you just seem like the sort of person who would’ve…” Ellie was openly considering her again. “Studied it out, maybe?”

“I’m less of a studier and more of a survivor,” Uma replied dryly.

“Well,” Ellie asked carefully. “Now that we’ve got ‘surviving’ covered for you, are you going to give studying a try?”

“At Auradon Prep, you mean?” Ellie nodded as Uma answered honestly, “I haven’t decided yet.”

“You have other things to do besides study at the school that’s the whole reason you were brought over here?” Ellie asked, skeptical and brave, and Uma wanted to snap at her for it, but, unlike with Ellie’s sister, Uma could see herself eventually liking this princess – _maybe_ – so she didn’t.

“Maybe I do,” Uma volleyed back with a smirk. “You don’t know.”

“No,” Ellie allowed. “I don’t, but I look forward to finding out.”

When Ellie smiled at her, Uma smiled back, telling herself things would be a lot easier here if she could manage to make some real allies, and maybe this girl wouldn’t be a bad place to start. She let the moment pass, though, asking curiously, “Does it bother you? I mean… do you still suffer at all from…” unsure how to encapsulate the situation, Uma gestured the length of Ellie’s wheelchair. “Anything?”

Looking a little surprised at the empathetic question, Ellie replied, “Not really. I could bore you with answers about normal pressure sores and adapting the castle and stuff, but do I have ongoing issues like _health problems_? No. We have access to really good medical care here in Auradon.”

Uma didn’t realize how sharp her smile became until she noticed Ellie flinch as she corrected, “Mainland Auradon. You have really good medical care here in _mainland_ Auradon.”

“You’re right,” Ellie agreed softly, knowing very well what Uma meant. _Or at least she_ thought _she understood what she meant, when, really, she had_ no _idea._ “We do, and we’re lucky to have it available to us. Now,” Uma wasn’t the least bit surprised when she changed the subject. “Do you want to see the rest of the castle?”


	16. Chapter 16

The following two weeks… _weren’t terrible_ , Uma could admit that to herself. She had quickly fallen in love with the area, taking twice-daily strolls along the seaside that swayed up to lap at the edges of the castle whenever the tide came in. If nothing else, being this close to the sea soothed her in a way that she had a feeling her foster family completely understood.

Once, she’d even dove into the water at dusk, and had been delighted to find that she was able to transform into her octopi half at will here. Thankfully, no one had seen her do it, because she had a feeling that they wouldn’t have been as thrilled with that revelation as she was.

Melody still got on her nerves, but still only came around a couple times a week, so Uma had ever-so-diplomatically decided that tolerating her occasional presence was a small price to pay for good food and a glorious bed and a strange sort of acknowledgement among the royals of Auradon. She certainly wasn’t Ben or Mal, or even Jay; she wasn’t an actual royal, but she something close. She was the Atlanticas’ _foster_ daughter, and that alone had made the people of this state stand a little straighter around her and pay attention when she said something. Given half a chance, once she was settled into Auradon Prep, she fully expected to do whatever she could to capitalize on that standing for the good of the other VKs.

_As long as Ben – and Mal, as much as she hated it – would let her._

As Uma settled into an existence in Triton’s Bay that felt more like a vacation in between leaving the Isle and starting school, her conversation – _had it even been an argument?_ – with Ben still worried her even more than she was willing to admit. Harry called her at least once a day, and she had told him and Harriet what she’d said to the king within the first few days of their being in Auradon, but neither Hook had given her any real insight into how to mend that particular bridge. She’d even tried to call Ben a few times that first week, but he’d never picked up. Eventually, grudgingly, against her natural impatience, Uma had admitted to herself that the conversation she owed him probably would’ve best been done in person, and for that she’d have to wait for the school year to start.

So, she waited. She wandered the beach and castle, got to know the Atlanticas, explored Triton’s Bay, tried to ignore the growing bundle of nerves, homesickness, and worry in her gut… and she waited. But it was starting to feel a little too much like waiting for an anvil to drop on her head.

* * *

Uma slipped away from “family dinner” as soon as she could that night. It was the one time of day that King Eric and Queen Ariel had requested she be present nightly, and most of the time she didn’t mind it as much as she would’ve liked to. This had been one of the nights where Princess Melody had come for dinner too, though, and there was just something so _sunny_ about her that she set Uma’s teeth on edge. So, she left the real royals saying “goodnight” to Melody and slipped up to her room. Changing out of her dinner dress – the one and _only_ time of day she wore something that was more in-tune with Auradonian royal fashion, and only then because Ariel had spent Uma’s first week here kindly pestering her about it – she then fled into the darkness to the beach.

Her mood didn’t improve when she realized that, for once, she wasn’t alone under the stars.

Ellie hadn’t felt the need to change after Princess Melody had left, so she’d beat Uma to the seaside.

Feeling like she’d rather cut off her own hand than endure more conversation tonight – even with Ellie, who was Uma’s _second­_ -favorite person around here – Uma hung back and watched Ellie in growing confusion. The girl had tied a rope to the arm of her wheelchair, and the other end of the rope was tied to the pier where the rope had come from.

 _What did she think she was she doing?_ Uma wondered as Ellie wheeled all the way into the water until her chair began to sink.

The blonde drew in a deep breath, suddenly pushing out of her chair and into the dark water.

Eyes blowing wide, Uma ran for the water. _The girl couldn’t even walk; what was she trying to do? Kill herself? Surely not! But what else could it be,_ she wondered, frantically looking at the water around the chair to see if Ellie’s head broke through the surface of the water. _Sure, Ellie got frustrated with her parents, sometimes, and though it went unsaid, she definitely felt inferior to her sister, but that was no reason for her to—there had been no sign that Uma had noticed that she was desperate enough, depressed enough to—_

Uma dove into the water, transforming the lower half of her body into it’s tentacled version without a thought, thanks to what else it would mean – underwater night vision. A small bonus that she had noticed during her stunt at the cotilion, she put it to a truly _good_ use now, looking for Ellie as she swam towards the spot where she could see Ellie’s chair bobbing in the water.

Just behind her, outside her field of vision, a familiar voice gasped, “Oh my _gods_!”

Uma whirled, her tentacles slapping Ellie’s wheelchair uncomfortably. “Ellie! What the hell are you doing?!”

“What am _I_ doing? What are _you_ doing?! You’re a squid!” Ellie blurted, looking at her in shock.

“Octopus, actually, but this you’ve seen before, at the cotilion,” Uma reminded her dismissively. “But _you_ —” That was when she paused to take stock of what was _actually_ happening before she continued, far calmer, but far more confused. “You’re talking underwater. Without your glasses.” Her gaze trailed down the length of Ellie’s body. “But with a tail. You have a mermaid tail.”


	17. Chapter 17

“Yeah,” Ellie said dryly, swimming closer with a wry smile as she pointed out, “Because I’m as much a mermaid as you are an octopus – half, right?”

“Something like that,” Uma muttered, still not quite able to look away from the teal scales that were currently making up the lower half of her foster sister’s body. “You’re… really okay down here?”

“Yeah.” Ellie was still watching her carefully, a line appearing between her eyebrows as she said. “Of course. If I had come out here when I couldn’t swim, I…” Ellie’s expression changed as she asked carefully, “Uma, what did you think I was doing out here?”

“I had no idea!” Uma crossed her arms over her chest, defensiveness on the rise as she hovered in the water and muttered, “When I got out here, you’d already tethered your chair and you were heading into the water, and then you just _jumped in_ , and I—” she shrugged, trailed off.

“And you were going to… what?” Ellie asked with a fond smile that was only going to irritate Uma further. “Come save me from myself or something?”

“Maybe,” Uma shot back. “If you needed it.”

“Well, that’s sweet, so thank you, but… I don’t need it. I’m good.” Ellie grinned, propelling herself like a top through the water for a moment before she repeated, “I’m really good now.” Looking back at Uma’s stony expression, her own sobered as she stilled, asking Uma, “Are _you_ okay?”

“Always,” Uma replied, though she didn’t bother to hide her irritation yet.

She turned away, intending to go back to her room to stew for the rest of the night. Suddenly the sea didn’t feel big enough for the both of them.

“Hey,” Ellie said gently. “Thank you, for being willing to help me. It means a lot.”

Uma shrugged, trying to shrug off both Ellie’s remark and her own actions as she said, “It’s just the decent thing to do. Is it really that surprising that I can manage to be a decent person?”

“That’s not at a—”

Uma surged through the water, cutting Ellie off and leaving her tumbling through a wave of ripples before she could say anything else.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Uma had sequestered back in her room, taking a shower in the ensuite bathroom, and changing into her pajamas before she picked up her phone to call Harry for the night. Usually, she waited for him to call her, but if she could use him to avoid—

A knock came softly at her closed bedroom door.

 _That_. She wanted to avoid _that._

“Uma, I’m coming in,” Ellie announced softly, and if Melody reminded Uma of Ariel, then Ellie reminded her of Eric in all of the ways that were usually the most tolerable – her refusal to be frightened by the sea-witch’s daughter among them.

Except, right now, that refusal just served to irritate Uma further as Ellie did exactly as she’d warned and barged right into Uma’s bedroom.

“What do you want?” Uma asked sharply. “I was about to call Harry.”

“Doesn’t Harry usually call you?” Ellie pointed out.

Uma smiled, sickly sweet, at her. “Communication’s a two-way street, so that I hear.” Hoping she’d take the hint, Uma found Harry in her phone contacts as she said, “Good night, Ellie.”

Ellie came further into the room anyway, shutting the door behind herself before she rolled over to Uma and snatched her phone, tucking it under her knees as Uma demanded, “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

“Making you talk to me,” Ellie replied calmly. “Did you really think I was trying to kill myself outside?”

“I don’t know!” Uma snapped. “You’re a girl who can’t walk, throwing herself into the ocean. Was I _supposed_ to automatically jump to ‘mermaid?’ ‘Because that’s not how being a shapeshifter works where I grew up. Anyway, it’s not that big of a deal. Now,” she stood, setting one hand on her hip as she extended the other towards Ellie. “Give me my phone back.”

“ _Why_ did you think I was going to kill myself?”

“I—I don’t know. I just reacted, that’s it. I saw someone I thought was in trouble, I tried to help. My sincerest apologies for it.”

“If there was more to it, would you tell me?”

Uma snorted. “Of course not.”

“That’s what I thought.” Ellie engaged the brake on her wheelchair, crossing her arms and settling in for an extended stay as she waited for Uma to give an answer that would satisfy her.

Uma stared her down for a second, trying to decide if she wanted to disengage the brake and wheel her out herself, or maybe just pick Ellie up and plop her down in her bed across the hall, without her chair and effectively trapped. All her available options got them physically more up close and personal than Uma was quite ready for, though, so it looked like she was going to have to settle for the only slightly-less-uncomfortable option of honesty if she wanted her phone back before Harry called for the night.

“Fine. You wanna know why I thought you might be… down? Melody.”

Ellie looked at her in confusion, repeating, “Melody? What’s Melody have to do with anything? I know you don’t like her, but she’s my sister; I grew up used to her. She doesn’t drive everybody crazy the way she does you.”

“I know that,” Uma said, trying to fight an upward battle with her thinning patience. “But you’re right about all of what you said, and when you grow up with sisters, you grow up comparing yourself _to_ your sisters, in my experience, and from what I can tell between you and Melody, it seems to be worse than it is with me and my sisters because Melody’s so much older and more established than you.”

Ellie took a second to pick apart what Uma had said before her eyes snapped wide, and she asked in shock, “You have sisters?”

Uma snorted. “Oh, yeah, I have sisters.”

“Do Mom and Dad know?”

Uma shrugged, because she really _wasn’t_ sure – in her concern about Gil she hadn’t even thought to ask – but she admitted, “I don’t think so.”


	18. Chapter 18

“Why didn’t we know about your sisters when we took you in, then?” Ellie demanded of Uma, clearly confused at the idea.

“Probably for the same reason I compared myself to them growing up,” Uma replied dryly. “They’re absolutely magical… and I’m not. Which means that it’s easier for me to come over to Auradon without stirring up trouble – in a way –” she added, seeing the amused smirk tick at the edge of Ellie’s mouth as she finished, “When I’m sure that’s the concern with bringing them over.”

“So, you mean they’re _actually_ magical?”

“The two sisters that I grew up with are, yeah. They’re my mom’s daughters, my half-sisters who had some now-dead wizard for a father, and the point is that they’re basically sirens – or as close as you could get to it on the Isle, and everyone knows they’re special. Weird, and different, but special.”

“What are their names?” Ellie asked gently.

“Ule and Ula. One year and two years older than me, respectively.” Uma raised her eyebrows, asking, “Can I have my phone back now?”

Ellie ignored the request, asking, “And the fact that they’re ‘basically sirens’ made you feel inferior to them?”

Uma shrugged again, making a concerted effort to tamp down her irritation. “Growing up, yeah, but then I got the Lost Revenge; I had somewhere to go away from my mom, and they had to come to me when they wanted help, so,” she smiled thinly. “I got over it.”

“And you didn’t want me to feel the same way about Melody that you did about your sisters?” Ellie asked, once again wearing that soft smile that told Uma she’d already grown fonder of her than Uma had ever thought she’d be.

“Something like that, I guess.”

Ellie’s soft smile widened as she dropped Uma’s phone into the pirate’s lap. “Thank you,” she said with a sincerity that caught Uma a little off-guard. “For being willing to save me from myself… and for telling me about your sisters.”

 _It wasn’t that big of a deal,_ Uma told herself. _Ule and Ula were, what, a third of her story, if that?_

Still, she was grateful that she was spared from having to answer when the phone rang in her hand.

“Good night,” Ellie mouthed, leaving Uma to her call as Uma answered the phone with a casual, “Hey, Harry.”

* * *

After her eventful evening with Ellie the previous night, Uma was even more excited for the afternoon that King Eric had planned the next day. After only two weeks without the Lost Revenge, she was a little surprised at how excited she was to get back on a ship, and she mentioned as much to Eric as he steered them out of Ariel’s Grotto and into the Sea of Ariel.

“Nah,” Eric said, looking out over the water before he glanced at her as he said, “I get it. The water is as much a part of my family’s life as the air is. Partially because of this,” he patted the helm of one of his three ships – this one was the _Ellie_. “And partially because of them.” He nodded to the opposite side of the ship where Queen Ariel and Ellie were both taking their hair down. “Do you want to take the helm? I like to see their dives.”

“Yeah, sure,” Uma said, and when Eric flashed her a grin before he walked away – just up and walked away from the helm of his ship, trusting it to her, and that said _a lot_ in Uma’s mind about how he felt about her – she realized she’d probably sounded more eager than she’d meant to.

Eric moved to give his wife a kiss, after which she asked, “Are you sure you won’t join us?”

“Not this time,” Eric said with a shake of his head. “It’s not the same thrill for me that it is for you two. I get my thrills from being up here.” He grinned over his shoulder at Uma as he added, “And I’m not even alone in that anymore, I don’t think.”

Uma rolled her eyes, more out of habit than any real sort of venom, and bit back a smile.

“Suit yourselves,” Queen Ariel replied merrily, taking a deep breath as she climbed up onto the ledge of the ship and dove into the water.

“Ready?” Eric asked Ellie, and when she nodded, he scooped her up and lifted her to sit on the ship’s edge so that she could shove herself off her perch and into the water much like she had the night before.

From where she was standing, Uma saw nothing more than twin glimmers of golden light when Ariel and Ellie dove under the water, but with a helm in her hands once more, she didn’t care. She drew in a deep breath, tasting the salty air, and genuinely smiled when she had to reach up to shove her tricorn back onto her head before a vicious gust of wind could carry it away.

As the gust of wind made the sails snap and the timbers creak, Eric made it halfway back to her – to his helm – with his hands outstretched as if to help her make the necessary small corrections before he realized that she had it under control and stopped where he was. He shoved his hands into his pockets, leaning against a mast as he asked casually, “I thought you kept your ship docked on the isle?”

“Most of the time,” Uma agreed. “But I’d take her out a couple times a year, just for a little circle ‘round the isle, to remind people who the best, most mobile crew was. Plus, it was always nice for my crew. They enjoyed it as much as I did.”

For a moment, she felt guilty for being here, for enjoying this outing, when her crew was still trapped on the Isle, and Eric must have seen it, because he charged ahead with a stubbornly good-natured tone as he asked, “You’re pretty comfortable at that helm, aren’t you?”

Uma nodded, offering a little more shortly, “Feels like home. Or… like what I call home.”


	19. Chapter 19

“Not a lot of people had the opportunity to make their homes on the pier, is that what you mean?”

Uma nodded, thinking back to the layout of the Isle. It seemed strange to say, but for an island that was obviously surrounded by water, there hadn’t been many places that were fit for docking vessels. “There isn’t room for very many ships on the pier, and not room for many people on the ships that do fit, so we had to be selective with who we let live with us on our ships.”

“How did you choose?” Eric asked curiously.

Uma glanced at him with a spark of mischief in her eyes, figuring she’d shock him a little as she answered honestly, “Half the time I didn’t choose for myself.”

Eric’s eyebrows rose. “You didn’t choose your own crew? How’s that?”

“Half the time,” Uma repeated for a little emphasis. “I just took in Harriet Hook’s kids when they got too… bored or rowdy for her crew. We, ah…” she cast her gaze back out over the ocean. “Tried to look out for each other, in part because of that.”

“You created your own family, huh?” he commented thoughtfully, and Uma nodded. “And now,” Eric continued softly, “You’re here with us instead, with none of your first family around.”

Uma glanced at him, saw the way he was studying her, like he had a point, and she knew what he was going to say. He was going to try and call the Atlanticas her “second” family now or something like it, and she wasn’t ready for that, didn’t want it, and didn’t know if she ever _would_ want it. So, she took a risk that she hadn’t been able to calculate as much as she would’ve liked, turning her gaze back to the water as she said, “Actually, a couple of my sisters are already in Auradon, so I have all the family I need, thanks.”

A lie – they were very far from _all_ the family she needed – and a shutdown – because she didn’t need or want _his_ family – all in one, but, to his credit, Eric took her prickliness as in-stride as he ever had the past two weeks. “You have sisters in Auradon?” he asked in surprise. “As part of that bunch that came over a couple months ago, I guess?” Uma nodded, not offering anymore information until he asked, “Who are they?”

“Their names are Freddie and Celia.”

“I… don’t think I recognize those names, I’m sorry.”

Uma shrugged, sidestepping the way he was covertly asking for an elaboration as she replied, “You shouldn’t necessarily. Our dad’s family is from Bayou De Orleans, but Freddie and Celia live in Neverland now, so I doubt you’ll cross paths with them.”

“Neverland?” Eric repeated. “That’s so far away. They may as well not be here at all – well, only regarding being here _with you_ , you know – if no one’s going to make an effort to get you three together.” He took a step closer as he offered, “Would you like to see them before the school year starts? I’m sure we could work something out this week if we really wanted to.”

It was a kind offer from a man who looked nothing but sympathetic, but Uma automatically shied away from the notion. Her original intention in bringing them up was about to backfire spectacularly in her face if she wasn’t careful as she said, “I don’t know about that. I’m sure they’re busy, just like I am, and I’d hate to interrupt whatever new routine they’ve got in Neverland.”

Eric narrowed his eyes at her, just a bit. “You have sisters in Auradon, but you don’t want to see them. Explain that to the confused only child that I am, please.”

The wording said “friend,” his tone said “dad,” and inwardly, Uma balked. She inhaled, let her breath out slowly to give herself a second to think, but, as much as she’d skirted some truths with these people, she’d never _really_ lied to Eric, and she didn’t feel like starting now. “Okay. Honestly?”

“Yes, please,” Eric requested levelly, so Uma charged ahead before she could think better of it.

“Freddie and Celia are my sisters from my dad’s side, and, uh… he raised them, but never wanted anything to do with me. He’s too much of a control freak to want to share even parenting with another person, apparently. Which also means that I have…” she scoffed. “Whatever passes for a mom on the Isle, while they never did. And because our parents never got along, they raised their daughters not to get along, either. They just…” she shrugged. “Made things complicated, I guess. My relationship with Freddie and Celia has always been somewhere on a spectrum of… stilted at best, hostile most often, and at times nonexistent.” She smiled wryly at Eric, commenting, “Not the best foundation for _sisterly affection_ , you know?”

“It sounds to me,” Eric informed her thoughtfully. “That the problem lies with your parents, not you three. Are you sure you wouldn’t like to try and meet them without your parents in the way?”

Uma shook her head, still not looking at him as she said, “I’ve got stuff on my mind without that for now, thanks.”

A line of worry appeared between Eric’s brows as he heard what she wasn’t quite saying and asked, “Anything I can help with?”

“Not really,” Uma answered casually, thinking back for the thousandth time to her conversation with Ben in his office. “This, being out here on the water again, is actually the most helpful thing anyone’s done for me since I’ve been in Auradon, I think.”

Eric gave her another assessing look, like he didn’t quite agree with her take on that, but he didn’t verbalize his disagreement either. Unlike the rest of his family, he’d came at her with a pretty accurate feel for how hard and how often he could push her, and he could probably tell that this conversation was on the edge of becoming something that would ruin her good mood even out here on the ship. “You know,” he said after a beat of silence. “I think I can understand what you mean.”

 _Maybe_ , she allowed, watching the way he turned his back to her, tilting his head into the sea breeze as he watched his wife and daughter do backflips through the water around the ship. _He really could._

She didn’t dislike him for that.


	20. Chapter 20

If being out on the water again had helped soothe Uma’s nerves and the ever-present knot in her stomach, it had also tripled her guilt over being in Auradon – and enjoying all the good things that royal life had to offer -when her crew and the other VKs couldn’t do the same. She had alternated between being sullen and being snappy whenever anyone dared approach her, and when Melody showed up for dinner the next night, she decided she just couldn’t be bothered to deal with it. She stayed in her bedroom for the duration of “family dinnertime,” and was pleasantly surprised when she was left alone to do so.

She’d had her pajamas on for hours at that point – _pajamas, something else she’d never thought were important enough to possess on the Isle, but they were quickly becoming one of her favorite comforts in Auradon._ Once she’d watched Melody leave for the evening, glaring at her through the darkness outside her bedroom window, Uma turned to crawl under the covers for the night while she waited for Harry’s phone call.

As she pulled the duvet up to her chin, someone knocked on her bedroom door, _because of course she wasn’t_ actually _going to get away with avoiding the all-important family dinner._ She rolled her eyes, fully expecting Eric to stick his head in as she snapped, “What?”

“Can I come in?” a soft voice asked, and Uma didn’t bother with muffling a groan as she suddenly _wished_ it were Eric standing outside her door.

“What if I say ‘no?’” Uma called back testily.

Queen Ariel opened the bedroom door and came in anyway, flipping the light back on as she did so. “I wanted to check on you.” She held out a tray of food to Uma, setting it across her lap as the redhead sat on the edge of her bed. “You didn’t come down to dinner, and I didn’t want you to go hungry.” Uma grudgingly sat up, giving Queen Ariel an incredulous look. The irony of that statement wasn’t lost on either of them, and Ariel corrected softly, “You don’t have to go hungry anymore, so I don’t want you to.”

Uma looked down at the food – she really hadn’t even thought about the fact that she was skipping a meal – and shoved the tray out of her way when even looking at it all made her stomach churn. “You never cared if we went hungry before,” she snapped, just because she could.

“You really went hungry on the Isle?” Ariel asked cautiously, and Uma could understand why she asked when the queen pointed out, “Your mother runs a restaurant, doesn’t she?”

Uma snorted. “Yeah, but that food was for her profit, not for her kids.” At Ariel’s half-confused, half-heartbroken look, Uma _almost_ repented of her statement as she added as a sort of balm for the wound she’d caused, “But you’re right; the whole food situation got… better when she opened the fish and chips shop. The food situation in general has gotten better over the years, not necessarily good, but better.”

“Was it really that bad before the shop?” Ariel asked, careful and quiet, and she was so _soft_ that Uma almost didn’t want to tell her the truth. Then again, she didn’t like her enough yet to care, and Ariel was so soft that, in a wholly different way, Uma suddenly wanted to tell her _everything_.

She bit her tongue against unleashing the whole story, hedging only, “Yeah, it was that bad.”

She drew in a deep breath, looking back out the window as a seagull flew by, and for a moment, with a trick of the half-light, Uma thought it looked like part of his wing was missing. But there was no way that was Urdu; as he always would be, Urdu was stuck on the Isle. It was too late for him to find a way out.

“Originally,” she heard herself saying distantly, “My mom had four kids. I was the third. Before she opened the fish and chips shop, she’d whittled it down to having three kids.”

Queen Ariel drew in a sharp breath at the implications of that, but Uma realized she wasn’t done yet, still blurting out, “My little brother, Urdu – the only full-blooded sibling I had – died when he was four years old. Mom kept running out of food, and Urdu, Urdu was screwed up. He had clubbed feet where, ironically,” her mind flickered from her brother to Ellie, to the elevator that was just down the hall, not something “extra” that the royals could afford like she’d originally thought, but an accommodation for the princess who’d never known what it was to be a hated burden because of how she was “deficient.” “He should’ve been able to transform like my mom and I can, except, because of the barring of magic on the Isle, he couldn’t, not like he should’ve, and… he got clubbed feet within the first six months of his life and… when food was running short, he was the first one Mom stopped feeding. Always. Last one in, first one out, I guess,” she commented dryly. “I guess one day she just got tired of him. I was six when she took him to the edge of the Isle, and just… dropped him in with the crocs.”

Uma pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, determined not to cry as she glared down at the tray Ariel had brought her. “So, yeah, if we had gotten some of this food on the Isle, if you had _cared_ before someone’s within your sight, then _maybe_ —” It wasn’t true, and she knew it, because food couldn’t fix the evil in her mother, but it could fix a hell of a lot of other things when there wasn’t enough of it. “Maybe Urdu wouldn’t have been considered such a…a drain on resources, and he would still… still be…”

“Oh, Uma,” Ariel reached for her, pulling her tightly into a hug until Uma relaxed enough to put her head on the redhead’s shoulder, sitting uncertainly in a mother’s hug – the first hug she’d _ever_ received that felt maternal… _And that was why Ariel was so off-putting to her still, because as she’d gotten used to having Uma around, Ariel was willing to try and mother her, and Uma wasn’t sure how to let her try._ “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. That should never happen to anyone, and I’m _so sorry._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if anyone needs the clarification or not, but Uma's family tree looks like this:  
> Ursula's kids are Ule, Ula, Uma, and Urdu.  
> Facilier's kids are Andrea, Freddie, Uma, Urdu, and Celia.


	21. Chapter 21

“Sorry doesn’t bring anybody back,” Uma muttered archly, keeping her face hidden in Ariel’s shoulder until the queen pulled back just enough to look at her face.

“No,” she replied knowingly. “It doesn’t, but I _am_ sorry for your loss.”

Uma drew in a ragged breath, doing her best to build her walls back up as she demanded sharply, “What do you know about loss? Sitting here in your perfect castle with your perfect family.”

Ariel regarded her frankly, answering, “I lost my mother when I was six, the same age you were when you lost your brother. And then, as if that weren’t enough, years later, Melody was born, Morgana made her threats known… and I built a very literal barrier that separated me from my people, from the seafolk of Atlanctica… the same way you just crossed a barrier and were cut off from your people.”

Ariel gave her a careful smile, and for once Uma saw the grit behind her eyes, the fiery-tempered teen who had notoriously rebelled against her father peeking out from underneath a queenly updo and tiara. “You don’t have to like me, Uma. You don’t have to talk to me; you can shut me out, if that’s what you think will keep you safe and protected from getting hurt… but I already know you more than you want me to. I already understand you more than maybe either of us are comfortable with. I know what it is to get coveted glimpses into a world that you so desperately want to be a part of. _I know_ what it is to finally join that world… and all it makes you feel, as the shiny wear off and the reality sets in, is split – split in half between this world that is everything you’ve ever wanted it to be, and the people – your people – that you love more than you could ever love any place.

“So, you can hide up here if you want, and you can be angry at me, at Eric, at King Ben, for bringing you here and making you leave your people behind if that’s what you think is useful to you right now, but, Uma, it isn’t. It isn’t useful and it isn’t helpful to anyone, yourself included.

“You have four days left before you need to go back to Auradon Prep for the start of the school year. Don’t spend that time in your room, worried and angry. Take those days and enjoy them. _Relax_ , because when you get to boarding school, if I know you like I think I do, you’re going to hit the ground running. You’re going to take the whole state by storm, rebuild their opinions on VKs, how they can be helped and brought over, and you are going to be a force to be reckoned with, and I want to be there for that, to support you in that, as…” Ariel sighed, trying to find the right words, “As someone you’ve grown close to. If you’ll let me be one of those people.”

Uma shook her head, looking away from Ariel even though the woman’s arms were still loosely holding her. “I don’t think you’d want that if you realized some of what I’ve done here. And I’m, ah, pretty sure I’ve ruined my chances with King Ben, my chances of being helpful to the VKs – to _‘my people’_ – too. Sorry to fall short of the big plans we both had for me.”

“Oh, I’m sure nothing you’ve done has been that bad,” Ariel said soothingly. “I know nothing you’ve done in Triton’s Bay has been, and you were only in Auradon state for an afternoon.”

“Then you underestimate my ability to wreak havoc in one afternoon,” Uma replied dryly.

As Ariel looked at her, Uma saw the moment the queen realized how serious she was, and she shrugged out of the maternal embrace, feeling it was too at odds with the worry that flashed through Ariel’s eyes. Ariel folded her hands in her lap, requesting evenly, “Then tell me. Tell me what you did that’s so awful that King Ben – who likes you, and respects you as a leader on the Isle, for the record – is no longer going to listen to what you have to say.”

Uma shook her head, genuinely ashamed of what she’d thrown in Ben’s face when Ariel was right: Ben liked her and showed her more respect than anyone who wasn’t an Isle pirate, and she didn’t _dislike_ him, but she’d still said horrible things to him that had obviously hurt him. “I can’t. It’s too awful. I blew up at him right away, when he really was trying to explain, and…” she threw up her hands. “And if I was him, I wouldn’t listen to me anymore, so why should I expect him to?”

“You really believe that?” Ariel asked thoughtfully.

More miserable than she would let on at the idea, Uma nodded.

“Alright, let’s think about this, then,” Ariel mused.

“I would really rather not,” Uma grumbled.

Ariel smiled sympathetically. “I’m sure, but what’s more important, fixing the issue, or babying your emotions?”

Uma shot her a glare for that, but Ariel only arched an expectant eyebrow, waiting until Uma huffed, muttering, “Fine.”

Given leave to continue, Ariel said, “You don’t have to tell me what you said, but did you mean whatever it was?”

Uma thought back over the conversation in silence for a moment before she allowed, “Only part of it.”

“And what you _didn’t_ mean: is that the part that you’re worried about?”

Uma nodded.

“That’s what I thought. It sounds to me like you’ve just had a misunderstanding. You’ve said something you don’t mean, and you need to tell him so and apologize for it. We all have to do that from time to time. King Ben’s a reasonable enough person to hear you.”

Given _what_ she’d said, Uma wasn’t so sure, but she also wasn’t sure that mattered when: “I can’t apologize if he won’t pick up the phone.”

“In that case,” Ariel hummed. “It sounds like you need to go to Auradon Prep a couple days early and request an in-person audience with his majesty.”

Uma looked back at Ariel in surprise, asking, “Do you think I’d still be allowed to do that?”

Ariel shrugged. “I don’t see why not. If it’d really help you, I’ll even accompany you myself.”


	22. Chapter 22

So, that’s what they did. With knots in her stomach, Uma called Doug Klein the next morning, requesting an appointment with King Ben within the next three days.

Even over the phone, Uma knew she heard a wealth of skepticism in his tone as he said, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” she demanded irritably, internally worried that maybe Ben _had_ repeated what she’d said to him to his most-trusted assistant.

“Because Ben is very busy right now, and you’re not currently on our list of favorite people to be bothering with,” Doug replied frankly.

_Which could mean that Ben had told him what she’d said._

“Look –” she pulled out the trump card that grated the most on her nerves. “Please. I really need to talk to him.”

“I’m sure you do, but unless it’s an apology, I’m not putting him through hearing what you have to say.” The boy’s voice was hard, and in Ben’s place, Uma figured she really would’ve appreciated this assistant that he had.

“And if it is an apology?” she asked levelly.

There was an in-drawn breath from the other end of the phone before he asked her, “Can you be here the day after tomorrow?”

* * *

True to her word – and despite Uma’s protests that it was unnecessary – Queen Ariel declared that she would be accompanying Uma back to Auradon state. “It’s what I would do for Ellie, it’s what I’m going to do for you,” Ariel had declared with the air of a queen who was used to being listened to and a mother who was a little amused with her child.

“Well, who’s going to go _with Ellie_ , then?” Uma had demanded.

“I am,” Eric had declared, sharing a conspiratorial smile with Ariel. “Two parents, two students to deliver to the school. Funny how well that works, right?”

Funny how it wasn’t until Uma was leaving them for the year that she realized how much she’d grown to… _not hate_ these Atlanticas in her short time with them.

When the time came for her to board the Atlanticas’ jet, she did so with a chorus of well-wishes from Eric, Ellie, and Melody, and Ariel at her side for the trip.

* * *

When they reached Auradon state, they went straight to Auradon Prep, where Fairy Godmother took a break from writing up schedules and rooming assignments to show Uma where she would be staying for the year, but the headmistress was busy enough that she literally showed them which door was Uma’s and left with an apologetic little smile.

Which was more than fine with Uma. That woman was another one that was going to get on her nerves if she had to spend too much time around her, she had a feeling.

“From what I’ve gathered, all the kids feel that way about her from time to time,” Ariel murmured near Uma’s ear with a little smile.

Also, because Fairy Godmother didn’t stick around, Uma could say exactly what she thought about the dorm room when she opened the door and got her first glimpse of it. “Aw, hell no.”

The _whole room_ was pink. Literally everywhere she looked, it was pink.

Ariel’s grin widened as she waved a slip of paper at Uma, something that Fairy Godmother had handed her before hurrying off. “Good luck convincing your future roommate to change it.”

Her nose already curling up, Uma asked suspiciously, “Who is it?”

Ariel tapped the paper, and Uma read the name she was pointing to, taking a second to recall who the girl was before she swore a second time, wondering aloud who the hell had thought that was a good idea.

“You don’t like that idea?” Ariel asked innocently.

“No!”

“There are worse people,” Ariel assured her, leaving the piece of paper on one of the beds before she took Uma’s hand and bid her, “Follow me. Before you meet with his majesty, there’s another surprise we have for you that you may or may not like.”

“Oh, that sounds _great_ ,” Uma drawled, dragging her feet as she followed Ariel back out of the school and onto the tourney field.

As they approached the bleachers surrounding the field, Uma froze when she realized who else was already sitting in the bleachers, and Ariel stopped when she did. “This is far as I go,” Ariel informed her, smiling encouragingly.

“Whose idea was this?” Uma demanded, tearing her gaze away from where Freddie and Celia where sitting – they hadn’t noticed her yet, thank the gods – to Ariel. “Eric? He’s the only one I told. And those two aren’t even supposed to attend this school, are they?!”

Ariel paused before she admitted, “Meeting them here like this was Eric’s idea. The scholarship that both girls are here on…” Ariel clearly debated something before she finished vaguely, “Was not Eric’s idea.”

Uma’s brows drew together as she considered the options that left. “But you guys are personally paying for my sisters to attend this school?”

“My household is not, actually,” Ariel replied levelly.

Giving up on figuring out who’d set up the scholarships, Uma turned her back to Ariel, screwed up her courage, and walked a whole half-step towards her sisters before she turned back to Ariel as a new idea struck her. “Not your household,” she repeated slowly. “Are you saying that Mel—”

“ _All_ I can say on the subject of the benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous,” Ariel interrupted her with a coy smile. “Is that Eric mentioned Freddie and Celia being your sisters at that one family dinner that you didn’t attend but Melody did. And I can say that my daughters grew up with fourteen years between them; they very much feel… distant from each other, in a way, as if they’ve almost both grown up as only children, and Melody in particular hates it. She would like for sisters to feel closer to one another than she does to Ellie, if she could help make that happen.” Ariel held up a hand to stem further questions that she knew were coming her way as she repeated, “And that’s all I can say.”

Blinking a little uncomprehendingly, Uma looked between Freddie and Celia and Ariel. _Her family was here._

 _And Melody was the one who was making it so. Stupid, beautiful, sunshiney princess perfect was paying for her sisters to attend the best boarding school in the country. Because she could. Because she wanted Uma to have a relationship with her family. Even though,_ looking back over her interactions with Melody over the past three weeks, _she’d been curt at best with Melody._

“What am I supposed to say to that?” Uma wondered aloud to Ariel.

Ariel waved towards Freddie and Celia. “You’re supposed to go say ‘hi.’ See where you can go from here, without your parents to get in the middle and try and pit you against each other. You’re just supposed to… try with them.”

Uma looked back towards her sisters, only for Celia to catch her eye and wave cheerfully. Two months in Auradon had put a new light in her little sister’s eyes, Uma could tell even from where she stood, and she smiled to herself as she waved back.

“Hey, Ariel,” she asked, glancing back at the queen before she walked towards Freddie and Celia.

“Yes?”

“Tell Melody that I also say, ‘thank you,’ to her, for giving them this opportunity.”

Ariel nodded with a gentle smile. “I will. Now,” she gestured Uma forward again. “Go and see what’s possible.”


	23. Chapter 23

_“Go and see what’s possible.”_

_That was the theme of this day,_ Uma decided, trying to swallow her nerves as she knocked on King Ben’s closed office door.

Her reunion with Freddie and Celia had been strange and a little stilted, but it had gone well. She only hoped that her luck wouldn’t run out now that it was time for her to face the music with King Ben.

“Come in,” Ben called, sounding very professional, until Uma opened the office door and was met with his cool, half-worried gaze as he peered at her while looking up from a sheaf of paperwork. “Uma.” She watched him draw in a breath as he stood, requested, “Shut the door, please.”

She did as he asked, and the latch had barely snicked into place before she began, “Look, I really wasn’t—”

At the same time, he began, “Doug said that you—”

Realizing they were talking over one another, Uma clamped her mouth shut, hoping that small civilities, if nothing else, might help keep her from getting into even more trouble with him.

Ben gave her a thin smile, striding to look out the window as he said again, “Doug said that you insisted upon coming to see me, that you had something you wanted to say about… last time we spoke?”

“Look,” Uma spread her hands, hating that she couldn’t see his face from where they were standing and how he was looking outside. “I’m sorry. I lost my temper and said things that I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry. I hope… that you won’t hold what I said against any of the others.”

Ben glanced over his shoulder at her, surprise flashing through his eyes. “No, of course not. At least,” he corrected himself. “I don’t expect to. And I’m sorry that I never answered when you tried to call me that first week; I needed some time to get some things sorted again inside my own head.”

Uma nodded, but now that she’d said what she’d come in to say, and he hadn’t thrown her out yet, she wasn’t sure where to go from here.

“I saw your meeting with Freddie and Celia Facilier,” Ben said suddenly, going back to looking out the window instead of at her. “It went well, I hope.”

“It did,” Uma informed him before asking, “How did you know about that?”

He waved her over to stand beside him, and Uma looked out the window to see the tourney field stretched out below, in the space between the school and Beast’s Castle. “You have a nice view from these windows, she commented to fill the silence – and he did, with the tourney field out one window and the castle’s entrance out the other.

“I do,” he agreed, before saying, “I saw you three left when the boys came for tourney practice; I hope they didn’t chase you off.”

“No. We were just done talking for now, and I needed to come here.”

Ben nodded, and they stood together, watching the tourney practice below for a silent minute. “See anybody you recognize?” he asked her at length.

Searching the faces below, she finally found who she assumed Ben meant. “Jay’s here already.”

Ben nodded. “M-hm. He and his brother, Aziz, came in this morning.” Something strange caught in Ben’s voice as he commented, “Aziz is the one that Jay keeps passing to, working off. Carlos says they don’t even realize they’re doing it, but they work well with one another during games, so no one’s tried to get them to stop.” Uma glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, catching the storminess in his gaze as he said, “They work well together in general, as brothers.”

 _They never really had been talking about tourney, had they?_ Uma realized as Ben turned away from the window, crossing his arms over his chest to meet her gaze. “Last time we talked you didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know. Well,” he glanced up to the ceiling, saying, “That’s not true. You didn’t… wound me with any wounds that I hadn’t already self-inflicted. I get that the Legume ban is screwed up and wrong and hypocritical in the worst possible ways, and I _get_ that Gil and… and the others – most of the others – don’t deserve it. But I need _you_ to understand that I’m not maintaining the ban for me. At all. _I_ am in a headspace to where I think I could deal with it, with… most of the fallout of them coming over here.” He looked away, down towards his shoes as he muttered, “My mom is not. She’s trying – really hard… but she’s not ready – mostly because my dad, his fucking majesty, isn’t ready, but that’s another story. Right now, the point is – and if you hear nothing else, hear me right now – I _will not_ retraumatize my mother.”

Uma shoved her hands deep in her pockets, biting her tongue as she tried to put herself in Ben’s shoes, or, better yet, his mother’s, before she admitted quietly, “I can understand that.”

“But understand this, too,” Ben offered. “When I tell you that it _kills_ me to not bring them over yet, I mean that, too. I look out the window,” he turned back to the view of the tourney field. “And I see Jay and Aziz, even Lil Shang and Lonnie, and I _want that_ more than I quite know how to express. I grew up as an only child, desperately wanting a brother, and now that I know I have one, circumstances have made us strangers. And it _kills_ me.”

 _No,_ Uma thought. _It_ bothered _Ben, but it only had the ability to_ kill _Gil and the others related to Gaston who were still on the Isle._ Looking at the real grief on Ben’s face, though, she had the small mercy of keeping the thought to herself.

“I wish things could be different right now, Uma, I really do, but they can’t, not yet.”

And for now, in a swell of what was as close to her good will as she was going to get regarding that topic, she chose to move on, asking, “What about the rest of the VKs? Does anything change for them?”


	24. Chapter 24

“The rest of the VKs?” Ben repeated, sliding back into his seat behind his desk as he sensed the change in topic. “What do you mean?”

“You do realize,” she hazarded carefully. “That there are other VKs who know about Gaston and…”

“And my mom and I?” Ben suggested.

Uma nodded.

“I do know that,” he admitted. “At least I do now. Somehow… I hadn’t really thought of it before you mentioned it. I guess I blocked out the obvious idea. It makes sense, of course, but I never really thought about it… until I did, when you brought it up, and I panicked. Pretty badly, actually. I called Mal, Jay, and Carlos in here as soon as you’d left, and asked them if you were telling the truth: did _everyone_ on the Isle know who I was. They said ‘no.’”

“Because not _everyone_ does,” Uma murmured. _That had been a slight exaggeration._ Carefully, she asked, “Were you able to talk to Evie or Doug?”

Ben eyed her warily for a second but shook his head. “They were gone by the time I’d called the others into my office, and I haven’t seen them in person since. But, when it came to the other three, I knew Mal knew because she and I had already talked about it, and because her mom was the all-knowing queen of the Isle as she grew up.”

“Right.” Uma let him off the hook when it came to talking to or about Evie’s situation; he was a smart boy in a hard spot, and eventually he would get there even if Evie never got up the courage to tell him the whole truth herself.

“And Jay had no idea…” he was continuing. “At all, until we were right there talking about, which,” Ben sat up a little straighter, continuing thoughtfully, “In a way, I hate, but at the same time, it’s given us both space to work through some of our issues separately, which I think is a good thing… and now it can be nice to know that we’re not alone in our struggles, I guess.

“Carlos didn’t find out on the Isle. He didn’t find out until Mrs. Radcliffe gave him broader access to the ILD database we’re building, and he caught that particular tidbit of information in the algorithms there. Which, looking back, is probably part of why my dad didn’t want widespread DNA tests for the VKs; he was afraid someone would stumble upon the truth about me.”

A horrifying idea hit Uma right between the eyes, and she asked, “ _You_ knew about… where you come from before the ILD, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Ben waved away her concern. “My dad – that is, King Adam, that dad – has a lovely way of bringing it up in our… private disagreements. He has had since I was, ah… ten, maybe eleven.”

Uma gaped at him for a second before she muttered, “The ignorant bastard! Who would do that to a kid?!”

Ben smiled sadly at her, muttering with a shrug, “A man who spent his entire teenage years being called ‘Beast’ and fully living up to the name. I’m not naïve to his… shortcomings, or my own, but I am working with what I have – with the councilors that I have, and the measure of power that I have… and the parents that I have, and I may not be able to do it at the speed that any of us would like, but I will do right by the kids on the Isle. You have my word about that.”

“I know,” Uma said, returning his earnestness for her own. “I believe you.”

Ben smiled at her. “Good. I’m glad. Because I really want you on my side around here.”

“And I want you on mine,” Uma replied, holding out her hand.

He shook it with a smile, before settling back in his chair as he said, “In that vein… you asked if anything would change for VKs who came over going forward. No, I don’t think it will. But for now, we’ll need to come up with a way to figure out if they know about my mom, Gaston, and I, and if they do, it is imperative that they keep it to themselves.” Uma couldn’t help the skeptical look she gave him, but he reminded her, “As much as I want to bring over VKs, it is also my job to protect mainland Auradon, it’s citizens, it’s democracy, and it’s rulers.”

Uma gave him a worried smile, telling him, “You can just say you want to protect your mom.”

“I _really_ want to protect my mom,” Ben agreed.

“Mama’s boy,” she murmured, approving and teasing all at once.

To which he pointed out, “Because I’ve had such a great father-figure to look up to.”

 _Apparently not_ , she ceded, before changing the subject again when she asked, “So, there’s no chance of the Legume ban being lifted soon?”

Ben shook his head apologetically. “Sultana Jasmine knows the truth – frankly, I think she has longer than she lets on – and she’s working with my parents on talking about it, but… no, I don’t think even she’s going to get through to them any time soon. I’m sorry.”

Looking at his downcast eyes, his even slightly slumped shoulders, Uma murmured, “Me, too.” She gave him a careful smile as she added, “‘Cause, for the record – and don’t you dare tell Harry he knows the game – Gil’s gonna beat your ass at tourney when he gets here.”

That startled a laugh out of Ben as he sniffed, _almost_ before she caught the tellingly glassy sheen in his eyes. “I look forward to it.” He blinked rapidly as he turned towards his laptop, offering, “I know last time you were here I offered to let you look at updates on the VKs who had come over, but what I would really like is a fresh pair of eyes on the database, another opinion on which VKs would fit with what families here in Auradon.” He turned his laptop towards her. “If that’s something you’d be willing to do?”

Her smile broadened as she looked at him, then down at the proffered laptop as she slid it closer. She was careful not to let on how relieved she was that he was still going to let her do this as she commented, “I thought that was kind of the whole point of my being here.”

“Oh,” he was smiling, but not kidding in the least as he replied, “It definitely was in my mind.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page, then,” she volleyed back, turning her attention to the information on the laptop screen. _And she was_ really _glad. In her mind, it was about time someone else – someone like_ her _– had a say into who was brought over to be a part of this world._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I did reference The Little Mermaid in that last line. No, I don't regret it. :D  
> Hopefully you guys enjoyed this story! Feel free to let me know in the comments, as I feel like I really struggled to capture Uma's point of view, and I'd like to know your opinions.  
> Next up, we have the start of Harriet Hook's school year! There shall be lots of guilt, opinions, and lesbians. ;)


End file.
